Dr. Ergene was a founding member of the Psychological Counseling and Guidance Association in Turkey; served on its Executive Committee for three years; and is the President of the association's legislation committee. His expertise includes counselor education, counseling adolescents, trauma recovery and mental health policy and procedures. Dr. Ergene is published in a number of national and international journals, including the Harvard Review of Psychiatry, among others. He has served twice as an Associate Editor of the Psychology, Psychiatry, and Psychopharmacology Journal, most recently from 2000 to the present. He also is an editorial board member for the HIV/AIDS Journal (Hacettepe University, Turkey) and for the Journal of Educational Research (Washington, D.C., USA). His most recent book is Traumatic Experiences and Children. He has conducted presentations nationally and internationally at meetings in Malatya and Ankara, Turkey; Edinburgh, Scotland; Montpelier, France; and Santiago, Chile. He recently attended the experts on school violence meeting at UNESCO headquarters in Paris as well. He has received numerous scholarships, fellowships and other honors, including an award from Ohio University for outstanding service; a UNICEF award for disaster emergency work with children; and an award from the Turkish Ministry of Education for work on school-based trauma programs after the 1999 Marmara earthquakes. Dr. Ergene also has been awarded the Educational Research Award from the Turkish Educational Association.

Dr. Ergene holds a bachelor's degree in psychological counseling and guidance from Hacettepe University; a master's degree in educational sciences from the Middle East Technical University; and a doctoral degree in counselor education from Ohio University. He has also studied public health at Harvard University. He was born and grew up in Ankara, Turkey. He speaks Turkish and English, and has traveled in Spain, France, Finland, Canada, the United States, India, Chile, and Azerbaijan.