A Biographical History of Some Iranian Pioneers in Medical Immunology and Allergy

The oldest literature that mentioned the immunity was related to the plague of Athens in 430 BC. The germ theory had more influence on the description of the discrimination between self and non-self which is the core concept of immunology. Allergic diseases were known from 2,000 years ago while Rhazes wrote the first medical monograph about seasonal allergic rhinitis. In Iran, Dr. Mohammad Kermanshahi introduced the basic concepts of serology in 1900. The first Department of Serology was established at Tehran University, Faculty of Medicine in 1951 by Prof. Dr. Hassan Mirdamadi. After that, immunology entered into the cellular and molecular period. Prof. Mohammad Ali Maleki established the first Iranian Society of Allergy and then Prof. Abolhassan Farhoodi found the first Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergy at Tehran University. In this paper, we review the role of famous Iranian scientists and physicians in the progress of modern immunology and allergy from a historical perspective.