Rashid Massumi

Rashid Abdol Massumi (January 21, 1926 – May 29, 2015) was an Iranian-American cardiologist, and a clinical and academic professor known for early contributions to the field of cardiology.

General Rashid Ali Massumi was born in Nain, Iran, and died in Los Angeles, California, on May 29, 2015. He was a cardiologist and clinical professor, known for his significant and pioneering contributions to the field of electrophysiology in its early stages in the seventies. In his career he made a multitude of contributions published in peer review journals, and was the cardiologist to the Shah of Iran and his family and later to Ayatollah Khomeini until 1980.

Education Massumi left Nain for Tehran, Iran at the age of 20 to study medicine at the Tehran University School of Medicine. As valedictorian of his 1950 graduation class, he was rewarded with a government-sponsored 5-year period of postgraduate education in the United States. He completed his internship and residency training at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. under Myron Prinzmetal.

Early career in America

After serving as an instructor in cardiology at Yale University Medical Center from 1957 to 1960, he was invited to establish a modern cardiology laboratory at District of Columbia General Hospital, George Washington University section. During Massumi's tenure as associate professor of medicine at George Washington University and Head of Cardiology at D.C. General Hospital from 1960 to 1970, there were over 50 scientific contributions published in the field of cardiology.

From 1970 to 1974, as Professor of Cardiology at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, Massumi continued research in the new field of electrophysiology, contributing over 40 original papers published in peer-reviewed journals. He was a driving force behind the field's understanding of Prinzmetal-Massumi syndrome, a rare form of angina pectoris.

Final years

Prior to his death, Massumi was practicing in Beverly Hills, California and was a member of the staffs of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he lectured regularly, UCLA Medical Center (where he served as a Clinical Professor of Medicine) and Brotman Medical Center. Into his 80s he continued to publish articles, as recently as October 2010 at the age of 84, making him a successful contributor to the academic body of knowledge in the field for seven decades. In June 2009, the cardiology fellows of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center gave Massumi the Lifetime Teaching Award in recognition of "his enduring devotion to the education of Cedars-Sinai Cardiology Fellows".

Massumi's son from his first marriage to Elsie Szabo is the philosopher Brian Massumi.

Publications