Alireza Marandi Explained

Alireza Marandi
Order:Member of the Parliament of Iran
Term Start:28 May 2008
Term End:27 May 2016
Majority:709,391 (30.38%)
Constituency:Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr
Title2:Minister of Health and Medical Education
Term Start2:16 August 1993
Term End2:20 August 1997
President2:Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Predecessor2:Reza Malekzadeh
Successor2:Mohammad Farhadi
Term Start3:20 August 1984
Term End3:29 August 1989
President3:Ali Khamenei
Primeminister3:Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Predecessor3:Hadi Manafi
Successor3:Iradj Fazel
Birth Date:3 December 1939
Birth Place:Isfahan, Imperial State of Iran
(present-day Iran)
Nationality:Iranian
Party:PFIRF
Children:Mohammad Marandi
Seyyedeh Sousan Marandi
Seyyedeh Sepideh Marandi
Alma Mater:University of Tehran
University of Virginia

Alireza Marandi (Persian: علیرضا مرندی; born 1939) is an Iranian politician, physician, and professor of Pediatrics and Neonatology at the Shahid Beheshti University. He was also an associate professor at Wright State University before returning to Iran during the Iranian Revolution.

Marandi is a former two-term Minister of Health (and Medical Education) during the premiership of Mir Hossein Mousavi as well as the second-term presidency of Mr. H. Rafsanjani. Medical education was integrated with health care delivery during his nine years in office. In each of the 29 provinces, one University of Medical Sciences was established, thus making the country self-sufficient in health and human resources. In addition to being Minister, Dr. Marandi also served as Deputy Minister and Advisory to the Minister.

Marandi is Chairman of the Iranian Society of Neonatologists; the Board of Directors of the Islamic Republic of Iran Breastfeeding Promotion Society; and the National Committee for the Reduction of Perinatal Mortality and Morbidity. He is also the laureate recipient of the United Nations Population Award (1999)[1] and WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region's Shousha Award (2000).[2] He is currently a commissioner of the World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on Social Determinants of Health[3] and a recognized expert on pediatric and neonatal health issues.

Of his major contributions was a highly successful national vaccination program (which also included a program for terminating polio in Iran), the significant reduction of infant and child mortality rates, as well as organizing one of the most successful national birth control programs in the World.[4]

Marandi was elected as an MP from Tehran in the 2008 Iranian parliamentary elections. Around 1,700 candidates were barred from running by the Guardian Council vetting body, the Supervisory and Executive Election Boards.

The Supreme Leader of Iran is among the patients he has attended in his private medical practice.[5] He is the father of Mohammad Marandi.

Notes and References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20121103223432/http://www.unfpa.org/public/cache/offonce/home/about/popaward/pid/4641 Award Laureates
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20040927151922/http://www.who.int/governance/awards/shousha/shousha_winners/en/index.html Recipients of the Dr A.T. Shousha Foundation Prize
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20090726192357/http://www.who.int/social_determinants/thecommission/marandi/en/index.html Social determinants of health
  4. https://www.jove.com/author/Alireza_Marandi?language=Turkish/ "Role of National Immunization..."
  5. News: Aleaziz . Hamed . Marandi takes on the Media . 11 May 2020 . Tehran Bureau . Public Broadcasting Service . 10 February 2010.