The World Academy of Neurological Surgery (WANS) has awarded its prestigious 2014 Neuron Award to the distinguished Iranian professor Majid Samii. The award was officially conferred on Prof. Samii during a ceremony in Vienna, Austria. Several high ranking officials from Austria along with top neuroscientists were present at the ceremony, ISNA reported.
Last month, Dr. Samii was presented with the scientific medal of Kazakhstan. He was appointed honorary professor of Astrakhan University and was invited to train neurosurgeons in the country.
Samii was born on June 19, 1937 in Tehran in a scientific family. After finishing his high school education in Iran, he moved to Germany and studied medicine at the University of Mainz. After graduation and finishing a secondary study in biology, he started his specialty education in neurosurgery in the University of Mainz and received his board of neurosurgery in 1970.
Global Work
Aside from his regular work in Germany, he launched similar educational programs in different countries all over the world to enhance the knowledge of neurosurgery. In 2004, as the president of INI-China, he organized a permanent annual international course in clinical neurosurgery. In 2004, the director- board of Iran’s Social Security Organization offered Samii the chairmanship of the neurosurgical department in Tehran’s Milad Hospital. Under his leadership, a very strong educational component for the staff was implemented and the department is now one of the most highly developed neurosurgical centers. Since 2006, under Samii’s stewardship, international neurosurgical symposiums in Tehran have been regularly established.
One of the most important achievements of Prof. Samii is imparting education to more than a thousand global neurosurgeons, most of whom are today in a leading position in their respective countries. In 2002, his pupils and friends founded an international neurosurgical society under the name “Majid Samii Congress of International Neurosurgeons (MASCIN)” which was later changed to “Majid Samii Society of International Neurosurgeons (MASSIN).”
