| The modern nephrology era started in Iran in mid 1960’s, when a
number of internists trained in nephrology returned to the country from
France, United Kingdom and United states. Dr. Abdol Hossein Samiee was
the first U.S. trained Iranian nephrologist who had significant
contribution to renal patient’s care and dialysis in our country. In
1961 Dr. Fazlollah Motazedi, Dr. Nouredin Hadavi, Dr. Sadegh Pirouz
Azizi, Dr. Mehdi Ghavamian, Dr. Farhad Motamed and Dr. Abdol-Mohammad
Rafat established an association, which founded the first Iranian
Society of Nephrology (IrSN), with 10 members. The Society held monthly
meetings, but due to the low number of members, it was not actually
active till mid 1970’s. Between 1970 and 1978 other physicians such as
Dr. Bijan Nikakhtar from Tehran university, Dr. Mehdi Khanmohammadi, Dr.
Ipakchi, Dr. Fereidoon Alavi, Dr. Keyvan and Dr. Shahin were added to
the group of Iranian nephrologists, which increased their number to 26.
There after, IrSN became more active, holding monthly renal journal
clubs and nephrology meetings. From the activities of the Society in
those days, we can name a symposium on Renal Diseases held on February
1976. Till 1975 Dr. Nouredin Hadavi was the president of the Society. On
1976 Dr. Behrooz Broumand, the first Iranian American Board certified
nephrologist, was elected as the IrSN president and Dr. Mansour Hashemi
Rad, Dr. Iraj Amir-Lak and Dr. Mehdi Ghavamian as the members of the
Board of Directors. The Society held the International Congress of
Hypertension on October 1978, in which more than 500 delegates attended
and nephrologists such as Dr. Mansour Hashemi Rad, Dr. Behrooz Broumand
and Dr. Ahad J. Ghods as well as cardiologists and 3 international
authorities took part as guest speakers. The Society continued to work
till 1980, when the activity of all scientific societies stopped due to
unstable social conditions caused by war. In 1992 IrSN was
re-established with well-defined programs and the main goal of elevating
the standards of education, research and patient care in nephrology,
according to the international standards. New bylaws were written by the
founding members including Dr. Ahad J. Ghods, Dr. Ali Nobakht Haghighi,
Dr. Mansour Hashemi Rad, Dr. Khosrow Rahbar and Dr. Hossein Nejhad
Ghashti. The founding members, together with Dr. Seyed Mehdi Ghavamian,
Dr. Fereydoon Proshani-Nia, and Dr. Khosrow Roustaiiyan, established the
first Board of Directors. Dr. A.J Ghods was elected as the president of
the Society and remained in this position for 3 consecutive bi-annual
periods. He was the president of the 1st to 6th Iranian Congress of
Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation, held every two years from 1990
to 2000. Dr. Behrooz Broumand was elected as the IrSN president on 2001
and continued to co-operate with the Society till 2006. He has held the
7th to 10th Iranian Congress of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation
and a joint meeting between IrSN and ERA-EDTA on April 2001. The 10th
Nephrology congress was held in Urmiah on 2006 and the 11th congress in
Tehran on Nov. 2007 by the new President of IrSN, Dr. Ezatollah Abdi.
Dr. Ali Nobakht Haghighi has been the secretary and treasurer of the
Society since 1992 till 2006.
At present the Society has 209 active members (nephrologists), 43
associate members (internists with nephrology interest) and 1 honorary
member. The Society organizes bi-annual national nephrology congresses,
in which distinguished Iranian and international guest speakers present
the latest updates in nephrology. The International Society of
Nephrology supports the attendance of 3 international guest speakers in
these bi-annual congresses. The Iranian Society of Nephrology
participates in all of the activities and meetings of COMGAN (Committee
for Global Advance in Nephrology). The Society holds bimonthly meetings
in different university hospitals, where the main nephrology topics are
reviewed. Some of these meetings are held with co-operation of other
specialists including endocrinologists, cardiologists and urologists.
The Society also supports local nephrology meetings held in other cities
of the country and the participation of it’s members in different
international congresses of nephrology and transplantation.
The present Board of Directors includes:
President: Mohammadreza Ganji-M.D.- FACP
Past president:
Ezatollah Abdi-M.D.- FACP
Secretary: Mohsen Nafar
Treasure:
Shokoufeh Savaj-M.D.
Councilors:
Shahrzad Ossareh-M.D., Shahnaz Atabak-M.D. Masoud
Khosravi-M.D., Pedram Ahmadpoor-M.D.
Alternate Councilors:
Ayoub Pezeshki-M.D., Hassan Argani-M.D.
Auditor:
Nakisa Hooman-M.D
Alternate Auditor:
Farahnaz Dadras-M.D
|