Mehmet Cengiz Öz (Turkish: [mehˈmet dʒenˈɟiz øz]; born June 11, 1960), better known as Dr. Oz, is a Turkish-American cardiothoracic surgeon, Columbia University professor, author and television personality.
Oz came to general prominence with appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show beginning in 2004, and later on Larry King Live and other TV programs. In 2009, The Dr. Oz Show, a daily television program focusing on medical issues and personal health, was launched by Winfrey's Harpo Productions and Sony Pictures.
On October 23, 2014, Surgeon Oz, showing Oz's career as a surgeon, debuted on OWN.
Oz was born in 1960 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Suna and Mustafa Öz, who had emigrated from Konya Province, Turkey. Mustafa, born in Bozkır, a small town in central Turkey, earned scholarships that allowed him to emigrate to the United States as a medical resident in 1955. Suna (née Atabay), who comes from a wealthy İstanbul family, is the daughter of a pharmacist with Circassian (Shapsug) descent on her mother's side. Mehmet Cengiz Oz has two sisters, Seval Öz and Nazlim Öz.
Oz was educated at Tower Hill School in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1982, he received his undergraduate degree in biology at Harvard University. In 1986, he obtained MD and MBA degrees respectively at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Penn's Wharton School. He was awarded the Captain's Athletic Award for leadership in college and was class president and then student body president during medical school.
Oz lives in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, with his wife Lisa. They have been married since 1985 and have four children. His eldest daughter is author and television host Daphne Oz.
Time magazine ranked Oz at 44th on its list of the "100 Most Influential People in 2008" and Esquire magazine placed him on its list of the "75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century". He was named one of "The Harvard 100 Most Influential Alumni" by 02138 magazine. He won the Gross Surgical Research Scholarship. He was listed in "Doctors of the Year" by Hippocrates magazine and in "Healers of the Millennium" by Healthy Living magazine.
Other awards and honors include:
- Turkish American of the Year, 1996
- Books for a Better America award for Healing from the Heart, 1999
- One of the 500 most influential Muslims 2009
- 2010 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host
- 2011 Most Trusted Voice in Daytime Television,
- 2011 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host
- 2011, 2012, 2013 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Informative
- 2016 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host