Mehdi_Azar
Mehdi Azar
Iranian physician and politician (1901–1994)
Mehdi Azar (1901–1994) was an Iranian physician, professor of medicine and politician who served as the minister of culture in the period 1952–1953. In addition to his political activities he was one of the leading Iranian physicians in kidney disease.
Mehdi Azar | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Physician |
| Known for | Founder of the first dialysis ward in Iran |
| Medical career | |
| Institutions | University of Tehran |
| Sub-specialties | Kidney disease |
| Minister of Culture | |
| In office July 1952 – August 1953 | |
| Prime Minister | Mohammad Mosaddegh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1901 |
| Died | 1994 (aged 92–93) Norfolk, Virginia, USA |
| Political party | National Front |
| Parent | Haj Mirza Ali Tabrizi (father) |
| Alma mater | Tehran Medical School University of Lyon |
Azar was born in 1901.[1] His father was Haj Mirza Ali Tabrizi who was a cleric and a deputy in the Majlis.[2]
Azar graduated from Tehran Medical School in 1928 and also, from the University of Lyon.[2]
Azar was a faculty member at the University of Tehran.[2][3] He joined the National Front established by Mohammad Mosaddegh.[2] Azar was its secretary for foreign relations.[4] In 1949 he was imprisoned due to his political activities.[2] He was appointed minister of culture in the second cabinet of Mosaddegh in July 1952.[5] Azar was one of the cabinet members who were claimed by the Western publications, including Newsweek, to be communist threats for Iran.[6] The others were Hossein Fatemi and Abdol Ali Lofti.[6] Azar was in office until August 1953 when the cabinet was overthrown through a coup.[2] Azar and Abdol Ali Lotfi were arrested by the military governorate on 2 September 1953.[7]
Following his retirement from politics Azar continued his profession as a physician specialized in kidney disease among adults.[8] He was the founder of the first dialysis ward in Iran which was established at Pahlavi Hospital.[8]
Azar went into exile in the United States in 1982 and settled in Norfolk, Virginia.[2] He died there in 1994 and was buried in Iran.[1]
- "مهدی آذر" (in Persian). Institute for Iranian Contemporary Studies. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- "Interview with Azar, Mehdi: Tape 06". Harvard Library. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- Ervand Abrahamian (2013). The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations. New York: The New Press. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-59558-826-5.
- Peyman Vahabzadeh (2010). A Guerrilla Odyssey: Modernization, Secularism, Democracy, and Fadai Period of National Liberation in Iran, 1971-1979. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-8156-5147-5.
- "کابینه دکتر مصدق تشکیل شد - روزنامه دنیای اقتصاد". Donya-e-Eqtesad (in Persian). 26 July 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- Ervand Abrahamian (Summer 2001). "The 1953 Coup in Iran". Science & Society. 65 (2): 204. JSTOR 40403895.
- "Developments of the Quarter: Comment and Chronology". The Middle East Journal. 8 (1): 76. Winter 1954. JSTOR 4322566.
- Behrouz Boroumand (2021). "Nephrology in Iran". In José A. Moura-Neto; José Carolino Divino-Filho; Claudio Ronco (eds.). Nephrology Worldwide. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland AG. pp. 314–315. ISBN 978-3-030-56890-0.