Dr Ebtekar was the first female Vice President of Iran. A scientist, journalist and politician, she frequently writes on environmental, political, social, and women’s issues in Persian and English. She is one of the founding members of the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front and served as Head of the Environmental Protection Organization under Rouhani and Khatami. Her accolades include the Energy Globe Foundation Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award, being named one of the seven 2006 Champions of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Program, and one of 50 environmental leaders by The Guardian newspaper. In 2016, Dr Ebtekar was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Political Science by the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, Korea. In August 2017, Ebtekar was appointed as Vice President of Women and Family Affairs, a post she held until 2021. She holds a PhD in immunology, a subject she still teaches at Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran.