Dr. Oral completed her medical education in her home country of Turkey at the University of Istanbul in 1992. In 1996, she completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Sinai Hospital of Detroit (Michigan). She then pursued a Fellowship in Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes at the NIDDK. She joined the University of Michigan in 2002. She is promoted to full professor In 2018. Her research focuses on the importance of adipocytes in human metabolism. She is best known for her work showing the remarkable efficacy of leptin in rare lipodystrophy syndromes leading to the approval of Metreleptin in 2014 by the FDA and by the EMA in 2018. She received the Rare Diseases Champion of Hope Award from Global
Genes in the category of Medical Care, an award she was nominated for by her patients. Dr. Oral leads a multidisciplinary team investigating novel therapies for lipodystrophy syndromes and also performing next generation sequencing to define novel forms of the diseases. Most recenly, Dr. Oral, also developed an interest in the link between increased adiposity and the activation of the immune system.She is also researching outcomes of Bariatric surgery perfomed at the University of Michigan where the team is most interesed in defining the individual differences in outcomes.