April 15 marks 41 years since the passing of the distinguished ophthalmologist-scientist, academician Zarifa Aliyeva.
Academician Zarifa Aliyeva, born in the village of Shahtakhti in Nakhchivan, conducted research and achieved significant successes as a scientist, marking a special milestone in the history of Azerbaijani medical science. After graduating from the Azerbaijan Medical Institute, she continued her education in Moscow at the Institute for the Improvement of Physicians. She began her career in 1949 as a scientific worker at the Azerbaijan Scientific Research Institute for the Improvement of Physicians and devoted her entire life to the field of ophthalmology.
In the 1940s and 1950s, eye diseases, especially trachoma, were widespread in Azerbaijan. It was necessary to rescue people from this affliction, and also to conduct fundamental research on another pressing issue—the occupational diseases of the eye—and to develop effective treatment methods and preventive measures. Zarifa Aliyeva dedicated the initial stage of her scientific work to the treatment of trachoma. She visited districts with a high prevalence of the disease, identified disease foci, gave lectures to eye doctors, and held conversations with the population.
Very early on, Zarifa Aliyeva achieved successful results in the application of syntomycin in the initial stage of trachoma. As the culmination of her research, in 1959 she successfully defended her candidate dissertation on the topic "Treatment of Trachoma with Syntomycin Combined with Other Therapy Methods." The treatment method she proposed was widely applied in the republic and played an important role in the eradication of trachoma as a disease.
Among the topical issues that Zarifa Aliyeva focused on as an ophthalmologist-scientist were diagnosis, treatment of glaucoma, and inflammation of the visual organ. She conducted in-depth research on an under-explored scientific field of ophthalmology—the occupational pathology of the visual organ. The urgency of this problem was not only due to the rapid development of the chemical and electronics industries but also because of the need to study the impacts of many new chemical compounds on the visual organ. Zarifa Aliyeva was the first researcher in this field. For the first time in the world, she created a scientific research laboratory studying occupational pathology of the visual organ and laid the foundation for a new direction in science—occupational ophthalmology. Summarizing the initial results of her research in this field, she wrote a doctoral dissertation titled "Condition of the Visual Organ in Workers of the Chemical Industry of Azerbaijan." In 1977, she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences.
For her intensive and productive scientific work, in 1980 she was awarded the honorary title of "Honored Scientist." In 1981, for the successful results of her scientific research in the field of occupational pathology of the visual organ and her contributions to the development of ophthalmology, she was awarded the M. I. Averbakh Prize of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, the most prestigious ophthalmology award in the former USSR. She was the first female scientist to receive this award.
Zarifa Aliyeva was elected a full member of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences in 1983. She was also the author of several textbooks and monographs. Her works remain relevant today. She also worked on issues of iridodiagnostics and iridotherapy and prepared two monographs in this area. Zarifa Aliyeva was the first in the world to write books on iridodiagnostics.
Academician Zarifa Aliyeva was a member of the former USSR Peace Defense Committee, vice-chairman of the Azerbaijan Peace Defense Committee, and a member of the Management Board of the All-Union "Knowledge" Society and the Presidium of the All-Union Scientific Society of Ophthalmologists.
Zarifa Aliyeva passed away in April 1985 in Moscow. Her body was brought from the Novo-Divichi Cemetery in Moscow to Baku in 1994 and buried in the Alley of Honor, next to the grave of her father, Aziz Aliyev.