Event

Sitting Down with Prof. Mohammad Abdollahi On His 500 USD Travel Grant

USERN Congress 2018 and USERN:ESGM PID Course were held November 10th-14th in Reggion Calabria, Italy. The 500 USD USERN Travel Grant from Professor Mohammad Abdollahi went to Ms. Fereshteh Yazdan Panah to Attend the USERN 2018 Congress and PID Course.

This year in USERN Congress and Prize Festival 2018, USERN Advisory Board Members made a great contribution by letting 9 junior scientists to take part in the USERN Congress and PID course. We asked each of USERN Board Members who had each given up 500 USD travel grants to answer a few questions, on USERN, the USERN Prize and USERN Travel Grants. Below is a summary of my interview with Professor. Mohammad Abdollahi, Iranian top 1% scientist and member of USERN Advisory board since 2016. According to his ORCID, Professor. Mohammad Abdollahi acquired a PharmD in 1988 from the University of Tehran and then finished a PhD in Toxicology and Pharmacology in 1994 from the Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). He gained a postdoctoral training in Mechanistic and Clinical Toxicopharmacology at the University of Toronto in 2001 and the honour of full professorship of TUMS since the second mid 2002. Besides his numerous executive work in establishment of Tehran Drug and Poison Information Center, holding the chair position in the Department of Toxicology & Pharmacology of TUMS for 11 years, and in National Society of Toxicology for 8 years, directing the of National Board of Toxicology for 9 years, Dr Abdollahi has contributed in authoring more than 900 papers in prestigious journals and authoring more than 50 book chapters and editing 12 books. Since 2010 Professor. Abdollahi has been listed among top scientists of ESI/ISI with a current H-index, total citations, and i10 index of MA are 84, 27500, and 510, respectively.

Between mid-2015 and mid-2017, directed the Secretariat of the Council of Pharmaceutical Sciences Education and did an excellent job in reforming the Pharmacy education curriculum. In addition to more than 15 prestigious national awards, he has received the prominent award of IAS-COMSTECH in 2005 in the field of Pharmacology & Toxicology. Professor. Abdollahi’s contribution to this field is attested by an extensive array of citations in papers and books. Professor Abdollahi is married to Professor. Shokoofeh Nikfar, also an Iranian top 1% scientist in pharmacology.

I sat down to ask him, what is his motive for helping out young scientist to see the world and take part in scientific course like USERN’s..

F:Professor Abdollahi, how long have you known USERN? Describe USERN Prize in a short sentence please.

MA: I have known USERN since its establishment [in January 2016]. The goal of USERN prize is to recognize young scientists and encourage them for further hard work.

F:What was your motivation to give a travel grant to the 2018 USERN Laureate/Delegate (young scientists under 40?)

MA: I believe I have [come to a] place in my whole life that I should help younger students in [every manner possible] and help them to develop and build a future for themselves.

F:How do you envision future of USERN Congress and USERN Prize festival?

MA: What is see and have witnessed in these years is that USERN is working well and continues to grow. Hopefully USERN will become more illustrious and prestigious hereafter.

F:What do you wish to say to the 2018 USERN Laureate/Delegate who has won the travel grant?

MA: I feel my travel grant funding is almost nil for the enthusiasm of the students who want to take part in scientific and social activities. I desire to be able to support much more in time to come.

USERN Congress 2018 and USERN:ESGM PID Course were held November 10^th-14^th in Reggion Calabria, Italy. The 500 USD USERN Travel Grant from Professor Mohammad Abdollahi went to Ms. Fereshteh Yazdan Panah to attend the USERN 2018 Congress and PID Course.

By Farzaneh Rahmani