Mohammad Sajjad Rahnama’i is born on May 18th 1979 in Tehran (Iran). After finishing elementary school at the age of 12 in Iran, his family emigrated to the Netherlands, where he was sent to the school for basic technical skills (LTS, Delta college in Brunssum), like all newly arrived, foreign children. After figuring out the Dutch school system, he changed to a higher level, in order to gain access to the university and study medicine. After 1 year of LTS and 1 year at a middle level high school MAVO, he was able to convince the school board to make an exception and let him attend the Dutch grammar school (Atheneum, Rombouts College in Brunssum), from which he graduated in 1998. In that year, his name did not turn up at the Dutch national lottery for entering medical school. He therefore took the entrance exam and entered the medical school in Belgium (Diepenbeek university). He graduated in the first year with honours and returned to the medical faculty of the Maastricht University in 1999, from where he graduated his bachelor in 2003 and master in 2005, both with honours degree. He started his clinical work as a medical doctor at the intensive care unit in Heerlen, followed by 1 year at the surgery department in Sittard. In 2007, he started his PhD research at the urology department in Maastricht, under the supervision of Prof. Van Kerrebroeck, Dr. Van Koeveringe and Prof. Gillespie from Newcastle (United Kingdom). In 2008, he received a personal Mozaïek grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). He was accepted in the Dutch urology resident program in 2009 and started his training in 2011. He finalized and defended his PhD in 2013 Cum Laude. Beside his research, he is a member of the city counsel of his hometown Heerlen from 2006 and has taken part in Persian music ensembles. He is married to Elham Siasati and is a proud father of 2 sons and 2 daughters: Behzad, Niekdad, Dorzad and Mehrzad, born in ’08, ’10, ’13 and ’15 respectively
