Dr Seyed Abdul Mahmood Zia Shamsa a great Iranian pathologist and a well-known and much revered teacher, died after a short illness on 10th November 1999.
Dr Zia Shamsa, Emeritus Professor at the Tehran School of Medical Sciences and a member of the Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences was born in Tehran in 1922. He originated from an educated family and was influenced in his chosen profession by his uncles who were medical practitioners in Tehran at that time.
He completed his elementary education in 1936 and his junior and senior high school education in 1942. Having successfully participated in the National University Entrance Examination, he entered the Tehran Medical School in 1942 (the only medical school existing in Iran at that time), and graduated in 1948. His medical career began as an assistant (resident) in pediatrics under the chairmanship of Dr Ghareeb, Professor of Pediatrics. At that time, he joined the department of histology and pathology and in January 1951, became Assistant Professor at the Pathology Department of Tehran University. During this period, he was mostly concerned with teaching pathology to medical students and was in charge of the central Anatomopathologic Laboratory, which was the only institution of its kind in existence in Iran at that time. He was appointed Associate Professor. During this time, he was one of the founding members of the Cancer Institute of Iran and was a tireless worker and even in his leisure time attended the Pathology department with Dr Armin and Dr Sadjady to teach medical students. He continued his activities in pathology performing autopsies and training residents, of whom I am one. In 1952 to 1945, he taught Pathology in the newly established Medical School in Mashad and assisted Professor Yahya Pouya in teaching hematology at the newly established department of oncology.
It was at this time that he was offered a one year educational scholarship at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in the US. Upon his return to Iran, he joined forces with other faculties to expand and advance the activities of pathology laboratories to provide services in other teaching hospitals, like Amiraalam Hospital, Women’s Hospital and Farabi Hospital. In 1970, the Department of oncology was incorporated into the Department of Pathology under the chairmanship of Dr Armin. When Dr Armin was elected Dean of the Medical School, Dr Shamsa was appointed Chairman of the newly formed department and he continued his work in his position for several articles and books right up to his retirement. He continued his life-long contribution to Iranian medicine in the capacity of consultant and teacher and kept abreast of new developments and passed on his knowledge providing lectures twice a week at the Cancer Institute and Iranian Pathologist’s, Society in which he was one of the founding members of the Iranian Society for Helping Cancer Victims and in 1991. He was elected a permanent member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the Islamic Republic of Iran and participated in the ministry of Health committees and presided on the National Board of Examiners of Pathology at the Ministry of Higher Education.
In his fifty years of service to the Iranian medical community, Dr Shamsa was known to be an honest, kind, and dedicated teacher and a great disciplinarian. His lecturing style possessed a clarity and methodology rarely seen before, and his ability to convey the complicated concepts was second to none. He was anaccomplished administrator whose visionary stance helped establish many of the institutions in Iran which we now take for granted.
Dr Shamsa was a true humanitarian and philosopher. His extracurricular interests included animal and plant biology, literature, history and languages. A great lover of the arts, he was also an acknowledged expert in Iranian fine art and handicrafts, particularly in the traditional designs of Iranian carpets.
He was a true friend to all who were fortunate to know him Dr Shamsa’s contribution to Iranian medicine is inestimable and his death is a great loss to the Iranian medical community and country.
M. Bahadori, MD,
Department of Pathology,
Tehran University of Medical Sciences,
Tehran, Iran