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Founded in 1974 as the Imperial Medical Centre, the Iran University of Medical Sciences has grown and changed considerably from origins in which it was linked to a single hospital.

Located close to the 435m Milad Tower in Tehran, it can now to point to connections with medical institutions in the Iranian capital which are reckoned to be responsible for the care of around four million people. These include 17 teaching and 15 non-teaching hospitals.

Merged with the Tehran University of Medical Science in 2010, it regained its independence three years later and continues to be regarded as one of Iran¡¯s most prestigious centres for medical education and research. Divided into 10 schools, specialising in disciplines such as rehabilitation sciences, traditional medicine and advanced medical techniques, and with a total of 29 research centres, it usually expects to draw its student body from the top one per cent of candidates in national entrance examinations.

It has published its own monthly Persian-language medical journal since 1994, adding the four-yearly English-medium Annals of Iranian Medicine in 2004. A survey in 2015 found it to be the leading Iranian medical research school on the basis of productivity and citation impact.

It has been a pioneer of nursing and midwifery in Iran, setting up the first Nursing Care Research Centre in the country, while in 2014 it was recognised as a World Health Organization Collaboration Centre for education and research in nursing and midwifery, joining the WHO¡¯s global network of development centres in those disciplines.