June 12, 2026 — As an endurance athlete who has run two 100-mile ultramarathons during his clerkships, Ahmet Bilgili is no stranger to the benefits of hard work and perseverance.

Now, the third-year University of Florida medical student has been awarded the Carolyn L. Kuckein Student Research Fellowship from the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, a testament to his dedication in the lab.

The award recognizes the outstanding potential of a medical student and is intended to help foster the next generation of medical researchers. It will provide funding to help Bilgili pursue and present his research on the relationship between volume and outcomes in congenital heart surgery.

Bilgili attributes much of his success to the strong mentor relationships he’s been able to build with faculty in the UF Department of Surgery and the UF Health Congenital Heart Center.

“The University of Florida is second to none when it comes to mentorship opportunities,” he said.

As a UF undergraduate in biomedical engineering, Bilgili was drawn to the field of cardiac surgery and reached out to potential mentors early in his educational career. One of the first to respond was Jeffrey Jacobs, M.D., a professor of surgery and pediatrics and the director of surgical research and education at the Congenital Heart Center.

“We met for coffee and he talked to me for two or three hours about my goals and what I wanted to accomplish,” Bilgili said. “From that day on he’s always been incredibly supportive and responsive. He’s been a tremendous role model for me.”

Bilgili joined a research group led by Jacobs and had even more opportunities to interact with residents, fellows and faculty members with an interest in medical research.

That exposure paid off.

To date, Bilgili’s research accomplishments include 21 peer-reviewed publications — with first author credit on six — two book chapters, three surgical videos and presentations at more than 80 scientific meetings worldwide.

“I reached out to Dr. Jacobs to express my interest in applying for the Alpha Omega Alpha fellowship and we began to brainstorm a couple of ideas around some of my previous research,” Bilgili said. “We decided to pursue a project looking at the volume-outcome relationship of pediatric heart surgery operations.”

Using information in the publicly available congenital heart surgery database from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Bilgili will assess the relationship between institutional volume and outcomes of pediatric and congenital heart surgery, as well as that same relationship among higher-risk procedures, during the yearlong fellowship.

For his part, Jacobs likewise emphasizes the importance of mentorship for medical students. He said it’s not only about the professional responsibility of training the next generation of physicians but also about honoring his own mentors.

“I’ve had a successful career both as a private practice heart surgeon and now at the University of Florida for the last seven years,” Jacobs said. “None of that would have been possible without the amazing mentors I had in medical school. The only way I can truly thank them is to pay it forward and create the same opportunities for other people that they created for me.”

As Bilgili looks ahead to next year’s graduation and residency applications, he knows he’ll be leaving behind a legacy for the students who come after him. The research group that he’s helped build with Jacobs has grown by leaps and bounds since he first joined as an undergraduate, with dozens of students and physicians at each meeting.

That legacy of mentorship both given and received remains one of the high points in Bilgili’s time in Gainesville.

“The faculty at UF have been extremely supportive of me throughout my time here,” he said. “They’ve opened so many doors for me and have given me so many opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise had.”