שמואל רהבר

Samuel Rahbar (1929-2012), physician and scientist, born in Hamadan, Iran. He studied medicine at the University of Teheran receiving a MD in 1953. He then pursued clinical activities in Abadan and Teheran until 1959, when he returned to academia as a postdoctoral fellow. Rahbar earned his PhD in immunology from the University of Teheran in 1963 and was promoted to assistant professor that same year.

Rahbar continued to climb the ranks at the university and was promoted to associate professor in 1965 and full professor in 1970. He was also appointed director of the Department of Applied Biology at the University of Teheran Medical School.

In 1968, Rahbar spent a year as a visiting scientist at the Department of Medicine of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, where he collaborated with Helen M. Ranney.

After the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Rahbar was laid off from his position at the University of Teheran. In 1979, he moved to the United States and became a researcher and professor of diabetes in the Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism at the City of Hope in Duarte, California, in Los Angeles greater area.

Rahbar made a significant contribution to the field of diabetes research with his discovery of HbA1c as a marker of glycemic status in persons with diabetes. This discovery earned him the Samuel Rahbar Outstanding Discovery Award, named after the awardee himself, from the American Diabetes Association in 2012.