Minoo Mohraz ( fa, مينو محرز , born 19 January 1946) is an Iranian physician, researcher and AIDS specialist. She is a full professor (emeritus) of Infectious Diseases at the

Tehran University of Medical Sciences Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) ( fa, دانشگاه علوم پزشکی تهران, ''Danushgah-e 'lum Pezeshki-ye Tehran'') is the largest and most highly ranked medical university of Iran. In September 2008, Iran's Mini ...

and head of the Iranian Centre for HIV/AIDS. Mohraz has been considered to be Iran's foremost medical expert on

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

Biography

Mohraz was born in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, Iran, on 19 January 1946. She graduated from Tehran Medical School in 1970 and completed her training in

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

and specialising in infectious diseases in 1973. She became Professor of Infectious Diseases at the

the same year. Mohraz is an ardent campaigner on behalf of the

community in Iran, lobbying politicians and clerics to support awareness campaigns on the disease. In 2001, Mohraz was invited to an interview with Iranian national television to spread awareness about sexual behaviour and HIV/AIDS. However, her precondition was that her talk should not be censored. During her talk, Mohraz used the word 'condom' live on air, despite the word being banned on broadcasting media. Mohraz's pragmatic approach towards HIV/AIDS, her secular identity, promotion of public awareness campaigns, and encouraging safer sexual practices led to her becoming a recognised face of the AIDS movement in Iran. In 2007, Mohraz was considered to be Iran's foremost medical expert on HIV/AIDS. She has run a specialised HIV/AIDS clinic at Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex in Tehran, considered to be the largest such clinic in the country. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

in Iran, she was appointed a member of committee to combat coronavirus. On 14 March, Iranian media reported that she had been infected with

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019.

Research

Mohraz has contributed to numerous publications. She found that there was a high incidence of male prisoners engaging in sex with other male prisoners in Iranian prisons, greatly increasing the risk of HIV transmission. Under Mohraz's leadership, the Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS developed an

immunomodulator Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as ''activation immunotherapies,'' while immunotherap ...

drug (IMOD) composed of seven native Iranian herbs for use as an adjunct medication with

HAART The management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs as a strategy to control HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the HIV life-cycle. The use of multip ...

medications in HIV patients.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mohraz, Minoo HIV/AIDS researchers 1946 births People from Tehran Living people Iranian infectious disease physicians Iranian women physicians 20th-century Iranian physicians 21st-century Iranian physicians 20th-century women physicians 21st-century women physicians Academic staff of Tehran University of Medical Sciences Tehran University of Medical Sciences alumni