Hacettepe University Stress Assessment and Research Center (STAR), which was founded to investigate the prevalence and causes of mental stress and the mental disorders it causes, the risk factors for stress-related mental disorders, and to provide training on these issues to psychologists, nurses, social workers and other professionals who are interested in these issues, especially medical students and psychiatry research assistants, started operating unofficially for the first time in June 2014. In our weekly meetings, journal club presentations, seminars, training, and research planning activities on many topics such as post-traumatic stress, misophonia, anxiety and prolonged grief were attended and executed by students, nurses, psychologists and doctors from the faculty of medicine.

The establishment of the center, which operates under the Rectorate of Hacettepe University, was approved by the university board of directors in August 2015 and by Higher Education Council (YÖK) in October 2015.The center is managed by a five-person board of directors appointed for three years by the university rector. There is an advisory board consisting of five experts from within, outside of Hacettepe and abroad. The center conducts research and training on disorders related to mental stress, and various studies are carried out to encourage research on these disorders.