Amir Aʿlam's Role in the Improvement of Health and Medical Education in Iran

AMIR-AʿLAM (1876-1961), a graduate from the medical school of Lyon, France, tried over 55 years to improve the health institutions and education of modern medicine in Iran. He was Professor of Anatomy at the Dār al-funūn and then at Tehran University, a member of Majlis-i ḥifẓ al-ṣiḥḥa (House of sanitation) and co-founder of many modern health organizations in Iran. He was the founder of the Ahmadiyya Hospital, founder of the first women's clinic (later became known as Amir Alam Hospital) and was the founder of the Red Lion and Sun Organization (Jamʿiyat-e šir o ḵoršid-e sorḵ-e Irān) and the Hazraty hospital of Khorasan. As a Member of Parliament, Amir Alam was responsible for passing of the Health Protection and Smallpox Vaccination Act and the Medical Practice Act (Qānun-e ṭebābat). It was at his official request, as the head of the House of sanitation, which vaccine production began at the Pasteur Institute of Iran. He worked with some of the Medical School professor to write a textbook on anatomy (Kalbadshenasi tousifi). He was a permanent member of the Persian Academy (Farhangestān) and involved in the proposal and approved for many medical terms