The Massachusetts chapter of The Iranian American Medical Association had a great year in 2006. The officers of the chapter had multiple executive meetings to organize, coordinate and support different events. A total of three local events were sponsored by the M.A. chapter in 2006. Hossein Bayat (Ph.D. candidate) gave a lecture on “The role of inflammation in atherosclerosis.” Arash Alaei M.D., from Shaheed Beheshti Medical University gave a lecture on “An overview on three decades of HIV and addiction in Iran, from a long denial to breaking the silence”. The M.A. chapter of IAMA had the pleasure of hosting a group of highly qualified physicians, educators and researchers from Iran. The above groups visit to the U.S. was sponsored by the NIH and Aspen Institute. The above group of twenty-five experts from Iran traveled to Washington D.C., Atlanta, Georgia, Cleveland, Ohio and finally, Boston, Massachusetts. The social event to honor the above group allowed us to get to know our colleagues from Iran at a personal level and also to share scientific information and knowledge at different levels. The above group was comprised of representatives from the following institutions (in alphabetic order):

• Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences
• Iranian National Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
• Kerman University
• Mashad University
• Pars Curative Researchers institute
• Tehran University of Medical Sciences

The MA chapter wishes you a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.