He was one of the prominent scientists who emerged in the Ottoman Empire during the first half of the 19th century. He was a pioneer in the modernization of Ottoman-Turkish medicine. He was the author of the first Turkish medical dictionary. He was known for his works in the fields of medicine, history, mathematics, literature, and geography. The first three volumes of his five-volume work—translated from German to convey European medical knowledge to the Ottomans—were published as a single volume in 1820, marking the first medical book ever printed in the Ottoman Empire. His most significant work in the field of medicine is a five-volume set titled “Hamse-i Şanizade.” These five books are “Miratü’l Ebdan fi Teşrih-i Azaü’l-İnsan” (on anatomy), “Usulü’t Tabia” (a concise book on physiology), “Miyaru’l-Etibba” (a practical medical training manual for physicians), “Kanunü’l-Cerrahin” (on surgery), and “Mizanü’l-Edviye” (on pharmaceuticals). The first three books were printed as a single volume at the Dar’t-Tıba’atü’l-Amire in Istanbul in 1820 and became the first medical book printed in the Ottoman Empire. The fourth book of the Hamse was published in 1828 in Egypt at the Bulak Press by Kavalalı Mehmet Ali Pasha. The fifth book, however, was never published and remained in manuscript form. The new Turkish medical terms he coined while explaining modern medical concepts served as the foundation for the medical dictionary compiled by the Medical Society and published in 1873.
One of Şanizâde’s medical works is his translation of a text by Anton von Stoerk (1731–1803). He used Barthelemy Bathisti’s (1755–1831) *Instrozione Medico-Practica ad usu di Chirurchi Civil e Militari Opera* (Venice, 1778). One of his most significant contributions was introducing to Europe the technique of obtaining smallpox vaccine from cows—an innovation in Turkish medicine.