Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Akay completed his primary and secondary education in Balıkesir and graduated from Balıkesir High School in 1998. In the same year, he began his medical education at Ege University Faculty of Medicine and graduated as a medical doctor in 2004. In 2005, he started his residency training in the Department of Neurosurgery at Ege University Faculty of Medicine. During his residency years, he had the opportunity to work with prominent mentors of the time. In 2008, at the Turkish Neurosurgical Society National Congress, he presented Prof. Dr. Yusuf Erşahin’s work on epilepsy surgery. The presented study was selected as one of the best papers of the year and received an award.