Born and raised in Iran, Dr. Alavi left his native country at the age of 14 to attend boarding school in England. He arrived in the United States in 1956, where he finished his last semester of high school at Oneida Baptist Institute in Kentucky. Dr. Alavi then went on to Berea College, receiving his B.S. in Chemistry, graduating in 1960. He immediately went on to the University of Kentucky School of Medicine as part of the medical school's inaugural class, where he received his M.D. (given his last name, he was effectively the first person to graduate with an M.D. from that university). Dr. Alavi then completed his internship at University Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida and residency in Radiology at the University of Kentucky. He then completed a fellowship in Neuroradiology at the University of Virginia and joined that university's faculty, with a two-year hiatus in between in Tehran, where he completed his national military service, practiced medicine, and met his second wife, Firouzeh Balakhanlou.
After leaving UVA, Dr. Alavi went on to practice at University Hospital in Jacksonville and during this time, a brief stint in Iran, where he worked at Tehran Clinic. He moved his family to Richmond, Virginia in 1977, working in private practice for over 20 years, primarily at Henrico Doctors Hospital, where he was instrumental in building a radiology practice that later merged with other area practices and continues to this day. After retiring in 1999, he worked in various locum tenens positions part-time in Florida, Virginia, and Maryland until the late 2000s. He ultimately retired in McLean, Virginia just outside Washington, DC, and close to his children.
Dr. Alavi's passions exceeded far beyond medicine. He was a family man committed to his loved ones, and maintained a lifelong love of learning in other subjects as well, from history to classical music to foreign languages, having an encyclopedic knowledge of the former two. Dr. Alavi instilled his values of ethics, sanctity of family, hard work, and intellectual curiosity in his three children, and was always there for anybody who needed him, especially family and very close friends.
A loving father, husband, son, and brother, as well as good friend to many, Dr. Alavi is survived by his wife, Firouzeh (Grace), his daughters Suzanne and Elham, son Farhad, daughter-in-law Saharnaz, brother Shahrokh, and sister Lili Schricker.
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