Dr. Ardeshir Babaknia

Dr. Ardeshir Babaknia, physician, university professor, scientific and historical researcher, and cultural and artistic activist, is the recipient of the Nowruz Award in the field of culture and art for:

• • More than a decade of extensive research into the holocaust during World War II, and other genocides in the Middle East, with the goal of rooting out this type of human catastrophe

• • Four volumes of books on the Holocaust in Persian

• • Establishment of several cultural-scientific and social institutions

• • Supporting and cooperating with cultural and social institutions

• • Collecting and preserving a collection of Iranian historical artifacts

• • Creating beautiful artistic works on glass and ceramics with concepts related to the cultural and historical heritage of the ancient Persians

Biography of Ardeshir Babaknia

• • Dr. Ardeshir Babaknia, MD, is a Professor of Health Sciences, Medical Director and master of Health Sciences. Dr. Babaknia is also a special advisor to the Chapman University Provost in Health Initiative, Irvine CA.

• • Dr. Babaknia received his medical training at Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, US. He was trained in women’s reproductive health, and has been practicing Reproductive Medicine in Newport Beach, California for the last 25 years as well as serving as a Clinical Associate Professor at the School of Medicine, University of California in Irvine. Dr. Babaknia is one of the pioneers of minimally invasive laser surgery in medicine since the early 1980s. In addition to publishing more than 50 research and clinical articles on women’s health and wellness in peer reviewed journals, he is the author and co-author of over a dozen books in the field of women’s health, including two books on women’s health on nutrition: Soy: The Right Protein for Improving Your Health and Soy: One Choice for Menopausal Health.

• • He is the recipient of the National Medical Research Award for excellence in medical research from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

• • Dr. Babaknia has been a patron of the arts and of literature for many years. He is the Founder and Executive Director of the Persian Heritage Foundation (1987-2007) and the Graduate Society (Society for Iranian Jewish University Graduates) studying Jewish contributions and influences on Iranian life and culture in their over 2500 years of living in Iran. This culminated in the publication of several books on the subject (1991-2012), and he became a member of the Board of Directors of several other scientific, charity and cultural Foundations.

• • Dr. Babaknia has served as the Chairman of the Institute for the Holocaust Studies in Washington D.C. (2011-2013), as well as the Chairman of the Holocaust Remembrance Day of Orange County, California (1993-2013). He has been on an international book tour promoting genocide awareness and prevention, (2012-2020). Dr. Babaknia is the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Menorah Foundation with the specific mission of spreading the truth about the Holocaust and other genocides in the Middle East.

• • His dedicated studies and research on the subject of the Holocaust for over a decade culminated in the publication of a 4-volume groundbreaking book in Farsi about the Holocaust and other genocides of the last one hundred years (Wyman, 2012), which was awarded reference book of the year by the Association of the Jewish Librarians (2013).

• • In his book, Humanity, NOT, released January 2014, Dr. Babaknia has tried to weave in actual words from victims of the Holocaust along with letters and quotes from diaries of the victims, perpetrators, bystanders, and survivors of the Holocaust, accompanied by powerful paintings by renowned Iranian graphic artist Ardeshir Mohasses, in a way that touches the personal stories of man’s inhumanity to man, the brutality of the Holocaust, and the fragility of humanity. He believes reading first-hand horrifying experiences of the victims as well as some thoughts from philosophers and scholars helps us understand that the “reaction to the Holocaust has to be other than mere horror and revulsion. It has to be more than empathy with the victims, sharing their fear and some part of their actual suffering.”

• • In the past few years, he has embarked on one of his lifetime dreams, a journey long in making; creating sandblasted glass and ceramics artworks on social justice and human rights, global peace, women’s rights, children’s rights, the global climate crisis, water rights, refugee life and rights, and many other pressing social issues of our time.