Yeşfa Şebnem Özbay, MD

Yeşfa Şebnem Özbay, MD is a pediatrician in the Pediatrics unit at Acibadem Maslak Hospital in İstanbul, where she cares for newborns, infants, children and adolescents. Her work combines routine newborn and well-child follow-up with the diagnosis and treatment of common childhood conditions, including infectious diseases, PFAPA syndrome, croup, infant colic, lactose intolerance in infants, iron deficiency and anemia, and rickets.

Dr. Özbay graduated from Uludağ University Faculty of Medicine in 2013 and completed specialty training in Child Health and Diseases at İstanbul University Child Health Institute in 2019. In 2017 she completed a neonatology rotation at Columbia University NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Childrens Hospital. Between 2019 and 2024 she followed the Social Pediatrics Doctoral Program at İstanbul University, Child Health Institute. From 2019 to 2022 she worked as a specialist physician at Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Health Ağrı Training and Research Hospital, and in 2023 she held the position of assistant professor at TC. Haliç University, Faculty of Medicine (English). She joined Acıbadem Healthcare Services in 2024. She is a member of the Sosyal Pediatri Association, the Turkish Medical Association and ISSOP (International Society for Social Pediatrics and Child Health). Her published work includes studies on how pregnant women prepare a safe sleep environment for their babies, parental information and child safety, the administration of attenuated live vaccines before and after liver transplantation in childhood, and resistant gram-negative infections in a pediatric intensive care unit.

Clinical focus

A large part of Dr. Özbay’s practice is preventive. She provides newborn follow-up and well-child follow-up, monitoring growth and development across infancy, childhood and adolescence, and addressing questions that families commonly raise in the first months of life, such as infant colic and lactose intolerance in infants. She also evaluates children for nutritional and metabolic concerns, including rickets and iron deficiency and anemia, and plans treatment and follow-up according to the child’s age and findings.

Her second area of focus is the diagnosis and treatment of childhood infectious diseases. This includes acute conditions such as croup, as well as recurrent fever patterns that may point to PFAPA syndrome, where careful history taking over time is important to reach a diagnosis. Where a child’s symptoms suggest a condition outside general pediatrics, she may recommend further assessment by other specialists.

How Dr. Özbay works with international patients

Dr. Özbay consults in Turkish and English, and interpreters can be arranged for families who speak other languages. Before a visit, the Acibadem international patient team coordinates the collection of prior reports, growth records and any imaging, arranges appointments and organizes the hospital visit. A first consultation typically covers the child’s history and symptoms, a review of existing imaging and previous treatments, a clinical examination and a discussion of the options, including whether additional tests are needed. For families who are not yet in İstanbul, or who wish to discuss findings after a visit, a video consultation for international patients is available.