TEHRAN – Iranian inventor Azin Alizadeh-Asl has secured a gold medal at the sixth International Invention and Innovation Competition for the International Federation of Inventors’ Association (IFIA) IVN Members.

The 6th international competition for inventors and innovators was held online from July 3rd to 5th in Geneva, Switzerland, for INV title holders from around the world.

Alizadeh-Asl, a cardiologist with fellowships in echocardiography and cardio-oncology, is the founder of CardioOncology in Iran and the head of the Cardio-Oncology Department and Research Center, and a faculty member at Shahid Rajaie Heart Center in Tehran, Mehr news agency reported.

She was awarded the gold medal for her invention of ‘Image Clarification Device and Method in Transesophageal Echocardiography’. The innovative scientific achievement is considered a significant breakthrough in enhancing the accuracy of diagnosing heart diseases and improving the standard of patient care.

She has previously showcased her expertise and ingenuity in international community through her inventions. In February 1992, she earned a (silver medal) in the World Chemistry Olympiad in Italy; ranked second in the Cardiovascular Residency Program Exam in Iran in 2002, and placed in the top 10 percent of the Iranian Cardiology Board Exam in 2006.

She introduced an innovation in the field of echocardiography known as Holter Echocardiography and developed an accepted innovation called ‘A Polypill for the Prevention of Cardiotoxicity’.
Moreover, Alizadeh-Asl received the International Doody’s Core Titles Award for her Practical Cardiology Book and was recognized by BookAuthority as an author of one of the 100 Best Cardiology Books of All Time.

Following five successful editions, the 2026 competition achieved its highest level of international participation to date, bringing together more than 1,000 invention submissions from IFIA INV Title Holders representing 51 countries across all five continents.

This remarkable achievement reflects the continuous growth of the competition and demonstrates the expanding international influence of IFIA within the global innovation ecosystem.

The participating countries included  Algeria, Armenia, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Egypt, France, Georgia, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Macau SAR, Malaysia, Malta, Morocco, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela.

In line with the seventh National Development Plan which stresses the need to overcome barriers to women’s professional development, the current administration has put supporting women on the agenda despite unfair sanctions.

Expounding on Iranian women’s experiences in scientific, social, and crisis management fields, the Vice-President for Women and Family Affairs, Zahra Behrouz-Azar, in July said Iranian women comprise over 56 percent of academic communities, around 46 percent of PhD graduates, and more than 68 percent of specialists in basic sciences, while representing a significant share of faculty members, inventors, and knowledge-based companies’ managers.

MT/MG