Ali Emadzadeh
1* 
, Shirin Taraz Jamshidi
2 1 Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran
2 Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Abstract
Doctor Joseph Désiré Tholozan was a French physician who became the special physician of Nassereddin Shah, King of Persia (Iran) in the 19th century. He studied lots of topics in the field of epidemiology of infectious diseases. His efforts led to the discovery of the main vector of Iranian tick-born relapsing fever, Ornithodoros tholozani. He was also one of the pioneers of the Iranian Sanitary Council, whose efforts led to the foundation of the Ministry of Health of Iran a few decades later. This paper is a brief review of his biography and his roles in promoting health in Iran in the 19th century.