Akil Muhtar Özden (1877–1949), was a Turkish physician known for being the pioneer of experimental pharmacology in Turkey. He was educated at the Medical School of Geneva, whereupon graduation worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and prepared a doctoral thesis on ‘‘Long Lasting Cerebrospinal Meningitis’. He carried out research on ‘chloralose’ and 'opium alkaloids’. In 1909, he was appointed to the Civil Medical School of Istanbul as a lecturer and embarked on a long career of medical teaching until his retirement in 1943. After his retirement, Özden continued working in the medical field and had a short stint as a senator in the parliament.