The courage of Iran’s citizens and physicians fills me with awe as a doctor and woman. I am grateful to be here, despite my reservations after meeting the Iranian people and government in the past month.
From my observation, the people of Iran are happy and live in peace. They are a very religious nation, the majority of whom follow Islam. They are proud of their achievements in science and medicine and are dedicated to education. I hope that they will continue in their work to progress and advance science and medicine throughout the Middle East.
The Iranian government and populace is very supportive of the work of scientists, academicians, and health practitioners, especially in critical care medicine. I have been amazed by the support of the Iranian government. During my first two weeks in Tehran as a visiting scientist, the Iranian government and the Ministry of Health extended the most thoughtful and warm welcome. They have offered to host me at their country’s premier hospital for several days and have offered to provide me with housing, care, and transportation to the hospital. I was very fortunate to receive this gracious invitation.
The Iranian government will host the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) in 2009. I am particularly looking forward to the meeting of the ASA and Iranian society because not long ago, I was invited to deliver the keynote address to the annual meeting of the Iranian Society for Anaesthesiology (ISANoA). The invitation came after the Iranian Society for Anaesthesiology (ISANoA) sponsored an international conference on critical care medicine. The conference brought together critical care physicians from the Middle East, Europe, and North America, to discuss the recent advances in health care for critical illness. Dr. George R. Lewis, Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at Stanford University and a native of Israel, was elected as the conference chairman and served as the general chair of the conference. I accepted his invitation and presented a plenary lecture on critically ill patients in the Middle East.
The ASA represents more than 15,000 anaesthesiologists and surgeons who offer critical care and intensive care services at 1,300 hospitals and medical centers nationwide. Many ASA members
