First Iranian female Professor of Cardiac Surgery in Europe

Biography

Marjan Jahangiri graduated in medicine from University College Hospital , University of London , in 1988. Subsequently, she completed her senior house officer positions at University College London and affiliated hospitals. She completed her training in General Surgery in 1992 and embarked on a career in cardiothoracic surgery. She then became a registrar in cardiac surgery at the London Chest, St. Bartholomew's and the Royal Brompton Hospitals in London . She was awarded a research fellowship at the William Harvey Laboratories at St. Bartholomew's Hospital and Medical School . Having completed her research fellowship in 1996, she returned to the Royal Brompton Hospital as a senior registrar where she trained in the fields of adult and paediatric cardiac surgery. She was awarded a position in sub-specialist paediatric cardiac surgery as a senior resident at the Children's Hospital, Boston , Harvard. Upon her return from the United States in 1999, she obtained a position as national trainee in paediatric cardiac surgery at Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street and Birmingham Children's Hospital for a period of two years. She was appointed as Consultant Cardiac Surgeon and Senior Lecturer at St. George's Hospital and Medical School in 2001. She was appointed Professor of Cardiac Surgery at University of London in 2007. Her major interests in the field of clinical cardiac surgery are: aortic surgery, especially major and major complex cases (Marfan's), aortic valve surgery, minimally invasive aortic valve surgery, beating heart surgery, adult congenital operations and surgery for the pregnant. She is also a specialist in aneurysms of the aorta. Marjan Jahangiri is the author of over 80 peer-reviewed articles and published abstracts. She is also a frequent speaker at national and international forums. At any one time, she has 5 —7 research fellows who work under her direct supervision. She is on the regular review board of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery and the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Academic and Professional Degrees

1988 University College & Middlesex School of Medicine, London , (MB BS)
1992 Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England , (FRCS)
1999 Intercollegiate Specialty in Cardiothoracic Surgery, (FRCS CTh)
1999 Master of Surgery, University of London , (MS)

Prizes

1985 Department of Pharmacology Scholarship
1985 Pharmacology Project: Prostaglandins and antihistamines (Merit)
1988 Final MB BS Obstetrics & Gynaecology 2 nd prize (Merit)
1989 J Epson memorial prize for clinical research (Distinction) University College & Middlesex Hospitals
1995 Ronald Edwards Medal for Best Paper at the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland .
Societies
British Medical Association
Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland European
Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons
Royal Society of Medicine

Employment

July 2007 — Present
Professor of Cardiac Surgery, St. George's Hospital , University of London

May 2001 — July 2007

Consultant Cardiac Surgeon and Reader in Cardiac Surgery, St. George's Hospital , London

1999 — 2001

Senior Registrar in Paediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery Great Ormond Street Hospital / Birmingham Children's Hospital

1998 — 1999
Senior Resident, Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Children's Hospital, Harvard University , Boston

1997 — 1998
Senior Registrar in Cardiothoracic Surgery Royal Brompton Hospital

1996 — 1997
Research Registrar The William Harvey Laboratories, St. Bartholomew's Hospital

1992 — 1996
Specialist Registrar in Cardiothoracic Surgery Royal Brompton Hospital / St. Bartholomew's / London Chest Hospitals

Academic Summary

Total number of Papers 60
Total number of Abstracts 65
Book Chapters 4

“‘Sacrilege’ and the Nightmare of ‘Freedom’”

Most of us have esteemed religions and creeds; believing in a certain faith, prophet(s) and a holy book, praying to a unique God and struggling to behave in a way that please Him, or so we believe.
To followers of monotheistic religions including Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Islam, there is just one God supposed to be the owner and creator of the whole universe and its components. While believers might assign various names to this creator and possessor of everything, which is natural due to the cultural and linguistic differences, it does not make any difference in the nature, unity and almighty nature of the lord.
The thing is that we believe a single and unparalleled God has created us, assisted us and guided us through a firm path in his unity. Such a God who is able to design the construction of man’s mind with its endless capabilities, design the arrayed rotation of four seasons without any disorder and design millions of flower species with special smell for each of them would undoubtedly have no collaborator and needs no help to incarnate his privileges and powers; otherwise he would not be called as the “creator”.
We don’t attribute each of the natural resources and powers to a special god and don’t believe in a group of gods who co-work with each other to manage and maintain the incidents of the world. Such a belief is potentially unacceptable and rejected since all of us know well that the creation is not a nigh-patrol job to be shifted by reserve guardians.
Creation means making something appeared from “nothing”; endowing existence to something that was not existing before. By the exact means of the word, creation should be interpreted as an exclusive business which does not come from humankind.
Have you ever thought about the industrial or scientific inventions? What the innovators do? Do they create something new? Of course not! They just use previously existing materials, fix and mix them together, handle them in a different way and conclude a new production. I’ve to confess that their process of working is complicated too much; needing creativity and originality which most of ordinary people lack, but their work is not to produce things by using their own-made “materials” and “tools”.
Such a clear and realistic way of thinking is owed to the progressive doctrine of monotheistic religions that lead the mankind toward advanced scopes of thought. So you see, supposing numerous gods for the world and stating that rains, snows, days, nights, love, hate, childhood and adolescence are dominated by each of them indicates the shortsightedness and illiteracy of some of our ancestors in ancient civilizations.
But all of the illiteracy is not limited to those who believe in several gods. On the other hand, we have the irreligious who don’t assume any creator for the enormous cosmos which they are living in. They think that the world came into existence accidentally without any former plans or schedules and its inhabitants also “tumbled” on the earth suddenly rather than being “created”.
However, I am not going to criticize the viewpoints of non-believers, since, believing in nothing is somehow a type of belief itself.
In this brief debate, I have also nothing to bring to the table about with agonists, atheists, seculars or the others who believe that religion does not play any role in the daily life. Of course, they have not any concerns about “the other world”, not afraid of punishment as a consequence of their sins and unlawful acts, never minding about a superior observer who witnesses all of their deeds, rarely preventing themselves from “wining and dining”.
Sometimes, you may begrudge to them who live and commit liberally, having no restrictions, feeling responsible to nobody but to their desires and wishes, not bothering themselves to take part in prayers and rituals, apparently enjoying life.
This does not mean that a religious believer is deprived of material joys, but he tries to live a in a way pleasing to his God, meaning with little regard for superficial entertainment. He is confident that his exercises and mortifications would be granted luxuriously someday and somewhere.
All of the 6 billions living on the Earth have their particular religious, political and personal beliefs and nobody is allowed to convict and interrogate them because of “having” them. Honestly, the beliefs are mixed with the private territory of individuals and privacy is respectable, something that not to be threatened.
But the question is that, how these personal ideologies and beliefs sometimes violate the privacy of others. Others who have certain kinds of freedoms and rights like us.
It is an accepted fact everywhere in the world that “freedom of religion” must be respected. All of us are free to choose our beloved religions and act upon them without being offended by others.
The interesting matter is that some of the Western countries believe in this “freedom of religion” in a slightly distorted way; it has become “the freedom of no religion,” or even “the freedom of not being bothered by any religion.” They declare that people are free to having no religion and those who are irreligious are under absolute support and security.
If the purpose was the protection of all believers and non-believers in an equal way without discrimination, that would be OK, but evidently, the main goal of western states is not to advocate the freedom of religion, but to propagate atheism and irreligiousness, while it was rarely observed any efforts done by them to protect the believers of Abrahamic faiths. The European and Northern American countries are the only parts of the world in which mosques are destroyed and replaced by railroads.
Denmark is the only country of the world in which newspapers are allowed to publish insulting cartoons for a divine prophet under the pretext of media freedom. The United States is the only country of the world in which being Muslim could potentially be a serious threat and make everyone suspicious of you after any crime is committed.
American soldiers are the only soldiers of the world who could allow themselves to point their guns toward the Holy Quran and shoot it, because they come from the “beacon of freedom” and the other countries are “the axis of evil.”
France is the only country of the world in which the hijab-wearing female students could be banned from universities because of obeying the Islamic clothing and not dressing up in the strange western styles.
Britain is the only country of the world in which the writer of “Satanic verses” could be honored to receive the Knight title because of introducing some innovative ways of insulting Muslims and Islam.
The Netherlands is the only country of the world in which a parliament member could be called the “symbol of freedom” because of producing an affronting movie which insults all those who adhere to Islam, and practice it in their daily lives.
I don’t know exactly that what disasters would happen under the flag of “freedom” and “democracy” in the future, but it would be better to evacuate the entire world from that type of democracy which just deals with “insult”, “aspersion” and “outrage”.
I am wondering that whether this “Made in the West” democracy has other functions rather than spreading disagreement among people and exacerbating the atrocities.
As a non-aligned, independent and freelance journalist, I prefer to be “stupid”, “uninformed” or “unlettered” if blasphemy and insulting the values of billions of people is a sign of “intellectuality” and “freedom of speech.”

By Kourosh Ziabari

Kourosh Ziabari is an independent journalist and freelance writer from Iran.

President Obama - Lessons of Success

I really don’t care too much when it comes to voting in the US presidential elections because, frankly, I’m Canadian *smile*. But the story of Obama is a modern day story of success that repeats again and again for those who understand the principles of success.

Here are three of those principles based on Obama’s rise to Presidency today…

One: Not everyone has to vote for you

A very successful man once said, “I don’t know what the secret to success is, but I do know the secret to failure: trying to please everyone.” You do NOT need everyone to vote for you, you need the majority (and in the case of entrepreneurs, a small minority is enough to make you a million bucks).
Stop trying to cater to everyone. Don’t try to please old and young, rich and poor, Republicans and Democrats… focus instead on those who will vote for you in life. Take care of them, and they’ll take care of you.

Two: Just because no one has done it in the past, doesn’t mean it cannot be done.

When setting out on your goals, you may not find anyone who has done what you are planning to do. You may incorrectly come to the conclusion that it cannot be done because of the past history. But remember: every creation of Allah has a beginning.
And once it has been done once, it will be easy to duplicate.
If your dreams are something that hasn’t been done before, then let me give you the glad tidings that when you succeed, in sha Allah, your victory will give “permission” for other leaders to imagine what is possible.

Three: Don’t listen to the nay-Sayers

I was listening, last year, to “experts” commenting on the presidential election, and I distinctly remember the “expert” explicitly point out how America would never ever elect an African American to be their President.
I wonder what that “expert” is saying now.
Take intelligent counsel but always put your heart into what you are doing. In the end, if you open your mind and listen to your heart… you can’t go wrong, in sha Allah.

I vote for you! Now go do something amazing today.

Source: discoverulife.com