Conference Coverage
Two years ago, I was approached when I was president of the International Headache Society (IHS) to help arrange for the Iranian Headache Association (IHA) to become a member society in the IHS. This was not hard to do, but had to be arranged correctly. After it was done, Dr. Togha, the leading headache specialist from Iran, got in touch with me to ask me to be the featured speaker at their first meeting under the auspices of the IHS in Tehran. I was a bit concerned because of what I read in the papers and saw on TV about Iran and what it thinks of America and Israel. Many friends were shocked that I was willing to go, but I thought I should go to Iran and forge the way for a good relationship, at least on the headache level, between Iran and the Western world. The Iranians helped me with my visa and travel plans and arranged a wonderful scientific program in which I and other invited guests participated.
I was treated very well and was impressed by the turnout and the high level of talks and discussion. On my first day, we made rounds at the oldest hospital in Tehran, Sina Hospital, enjoyed high-level presentations of unusual cases, and were taken on tours of several neurologic departments. The research going on was impressive, and results are published in major journals. The three-day headache meeting covered a large number of headache issues, and the presentations were detailed and accurate. The hands-on clinics were overflowing their rooms. The Iranians’ headache knowledge is on a par with that in Western societies, and I found myself learning facts I did not know. One lecture by a PhD-level pharmacologist about headache drug–drug interactions was the best I have seen on that topic.
I never felt worried about my safety and, in fact, had a wonderful trip. I enjoyed the food and the long ride to the ancient city of Isfahan with its magnificent architecture and mosaics. The Iranian neurologists and the people I met on the street seem to love Americans and Western ways. The Iranians are nice and friendly people, and I strongly encourage many Americans to visit Iran on a tour.
I look forward to many contributions of the Iranian headache doctors over the next few years and expect to see their papers in Cephalalgia and Headache and to welcome them at international conferences. Maybe Iran will sponsor a regional headache conference for members of their neighboring countries in the future. I expect neurologic and headache medicine diplomacy will advance more quickly than international diplomacy.
—Alan M. Rapoport, MD
Clinical Professor of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
and Immediate Past President of the International Headache Society .