Memorial of Professor Jamal Gousheh (1930-2016): Biography of A Man with Effective Role in the Development of the Field of Plastic Surgery in Iran.

MEMORANDOM

It becomes necessary for every individual in his life to pause and look behind a man who had a positive impact on the lives of many patients, medical students and residents that may be the only thing a person can be proud of with high degree of confidence. We wish to write about him who had an immeasurable and indisputable contribution to the development of the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery in Iran.

Professor Jamal Gousheh was born in April 1930 in Tehran. He was graduated from high school in 1949 and attended Tehran University as a medical student at that year. In the second year of his study, he became a medalist in body building tournament held in Tehran University. While he was a medical student, he also showed an interest in wrestling, and won a few medals in wrestling matches as well. He achieved the Doctor of Medicine degree in 1956 and continued his education in the field of general surgery.

In 1959, he was graduated as a general surgeon, and after fulfilling the customary state mandatory services, he moved to and resided in the center of the Kurdistan Provence, Sanandaj, with his family for 10 years. During his stay in Sanandaj, in addition to performing thousands of operations, he founded the general surgery department, blood bank and transfusion center, and radiology ward for Pahlavi Hospital, as well as equipping the hospital with modern anesthesiology machines. Due to his remarkable improvements in Pahlavi Hospital, he was elected as the chief of the hospital.

I, as one of the authors of this article, traveled to Sanandaj in 2005 and noticed that the street where Dr. Gousheh’s office was located was named after him, and up to this date is still known as “Dr. Gousheh’s Office Street”. Although more 40 years has passed since Professor Gousheh has left Sanadaj, people still feel his presence, feel proud that he lived and performed operation there, and recall him as noble and virtuous man.

In 1969, professor Gousheh traveled to France and attended Salpétriíre Hospital General Surgery Ward to improve his surgical skills for a one year period, and worked with his colleague, Professor Sicard. Performing challenging operations for years, Professor Gousheh became very interested in plastic and reconstructive surgery, particularly hand surgery, and traveled once more to France to improve his skills in the fields of his interest in 1973.

During one year experience in Paris, he attended Professor Jague Michon ward who was a hand surgeon. After returning to Iran, he started working in Burn Treatment Center, Savaneh Sookhtegi Hospital, founded by Dr. Siroos Osanloo, and established a hand and microsurgery unit in that hospital. He was later elected as the chief of education and training division of the hospital by Dr. Osanloo. Savaneh Sookhtegi Hospital became a stepping stone for the development of the entire fields of plastic, burn, and reconstructive surgery.

Professor Gousheh became the first hand surgeon of Iran, and performed numerous operations such as free flaps, peripheral nerve grafts, toe to hand transfer, and finger re-plantation, for the first time.1-21 Until 1978, Professor Gousheh, repeatedly traveled to France, and worked with his colleagues, professors Paul Tesseir, Yvon Roulo, and Joseph Murray22 to improved his surgical skills on the repair of congenital abnormalities, and head and neck and maxillofacial reconstructive surgery.

He was elected as the chief of burn treatment center, Savaneh Sookhtegi Hospital in 1978 and held that position until 1980. In 1980, Professor Gousheh was transferred to Shohada Hospital affiliated with Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, and headed the hand and microsurgery unit. He equipped and established an up-to-date hand and microsurgery ward for that hospital.

The completion of a specialized microsurgical and reconstructive ward coincided with the start of the 8 year Iran-Iraq war. The classical war resulted in 8 to 1 ratio of war injury cases to fatalities, requiring numerous reparative operations. Although overwhelmed by the high number of emergency and at times very challenging reparative operations had to perform in Shohada Hospital on daily basis, he never gave up, operating many 24 hour day shifts. Performing thousands of microsurgical reconstructive and emergency operations, Professor Gousheh gained valuable experience in treating war injury and reconstructive cases, innovating novel reconstructive procedures which he later published and presented in many international publications and conferences.

During and after the 8 year war between Iran and Iraq, he invited his colleagues such as professors Paul Tessier, and Alain Gilbert from France to perform challenging reconstructive operations on the war injury cases (Figure 1). Professor Gousheh was then transferred to Masih Daneshvari Hospital in 1988 and established a reconstructive and hand surgery unit for that hospital as well, which he headed for 8 years. In 1996, Professor Gousheh was transferred to 15th Khordad Hospital and he restructured the entire hospital to a superior specialized plastic, burn, reconstructive, and hand surgery educational and treatment center of Iran.

Fig. 1

From left to right: Standing: Professor Gousheh Dr. Mohebbi, Dr. Sherkat, Sitting: Professor Osanloo, Prof. Paul Tessier. (1978-Tehran, Iran

After forming the first plastic surgery department, he accepted and graduated many residents for the entire plastic and reconstructive fields form Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, currently performing specialized reparative, microsurgical, and aesthetic operations in all regions in Iran. Professor Gousheh was the president of hand and microsurgery of 15th Khordad Hospital and the head of Plastic and Reconstructive Department of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences until 2000.

In 1996, he established the Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of Iran and up to last year, he was the editorial manager of this journal. In 2000, he was retired from the 15th khordad Hospital with the title of Merit Professor, and continued his private practice. Professor Gosuheh has been awarded back to back honorary titles and status for his hard work, achievements, publications, and domestic and international presentations.

In 1995, Professor Gousheh was granted the most esteemed academic title of “Chevalier dans l’ordre des Palmes Academiques” by the Republic of France. In 2000, he was awarded the honorary title of “Distinguished Researcher” by Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, followed by being decorated with the “Medallion of Research” by the same university.

In 2001, he was granted the status of “Pioneer of Hand Surgery” by the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH). In 2005, Professor Gousheh was awarded the most prestigious honorary national title of republic of France, “Ordre National de la Légion D’Honneur”, during a ceremony in the embassy of France in Iran and was personally decorated with the medallion of honor by the French ambassador. In the same year, he was decorated with the medallion of “Merit and Honor” by the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.

While we were writing this article, Professor Gousheh passed away on Friday, January 8, 2016. During his academic life, he published 21 articles1-21 in international journals, five of which described new and innovative reconstructive procedure,6,8-10,14 with topics covering burn reconstruction, the repair of facial palsy, repair of war injury cases, repair of brachial plexus injuries, repair of upper and lower extremity cases, and research in the field of hand surgery. He published 60 articles in domestic journals, and presented 116 articles in domestic and 60 articles international congresses.

Professor Gousheh is remembered as an active medical figure in Iran with tireless efforts to uphold an indiscriminate, dignified, and ethical stance in the treatment of patients in need of help. To complete this biography, we need to mention charity acts and donations of this great man including building and donating multiple schools in underdeveloped areas of Iran as well as enrolling many talented medical students for fellowship programs in different medical fields at his own expense.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare no conflict of interest.