Dear colleagues,
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the 4th Iranian Human Brain Mapping Congress held in Shahid Beheshti University. Shahid Beheshti is the fastest growing university in Iran with emphasis on human resources and new technologies and/as well as one of the major centers and pioneers of brain mapping science in Iran.
Interest in Brain Mapping has grown considerable since we started this annual meetings. Given the interdisciplinary nature of brain mapping science, each year we welcome scientists with different backgrounds including neuroscience, medical sciences, bioengineering, mathematics, biophysics, psychology, computer science, etc. It has become the highlight of our activity when students and senior researchers, clinicians and scientists, policy makers and policy users are all getting together to discuss new findings and advanced technologies in the field of brain sciences. Our main endeavour is for the younger generation to get inspired by those who dedicated their lives to the advancement of science in order to alleviate human suffering.This year we continue our slogan:"Brain Mapping : From Molecule to Medicine".
We are aspiring to provide a medium for both domestic and world-renowned scientists to discuss and collaborate in order to obtain a better understanding of the nervous system and the related diseases.
If brain mapping has taught us only one thing, that would be the importance of networks for optimal functioning. For this reason and many more, we welcome international scientific collaboration. Iran has so much to offer in neuroscience in general, and brain mapping in particular. There is a wealth of talent and energy among our educated youth which should be put into good causes with appropriate mentorship and guidance. In recent years, many high quality clinical researches have been published in prestigious medical journals because of access to wide range of patients and their keen participation in research. We hope that this can be extended into clinical neuroscience as well.
I encourage you to engage with our participants to develop your own line of contact and to establish new networks to enhance your research. If there is anything that I can do to help, do not hesitate to contact me. I hope you enjoy the program and the social interaction.

Mojtaba Zarei
Program Chair of IHBM 2017