Rheumatology program at Tehran University was established by Fereydoun Davatchi in 1969. Later, Reza Moghtader, Firouz Panahi, and Amir-Khan Chafizadeh joined him. The first rheumatology outpatient clinic was founded in 1970. In 1974, the first rheumatology fellowship department was established along with a small research laboratory. The department expanded gradually to become the Rheumatology Research Center (RRC) in 1981. RRC was officially recognized in 1994 by the Ministry of Health and in 2001 as the Center of Excellence for Rheumatology in Iran. There are 15 rheumatologists who are the teaching staff at RRC. The center has trained up to 45 rheumatologists since 1985. RRC has conducted about 150 research projects (national and international collaborative projects). It has published 14 yearly books and collaborated in the publication of seven international books. RRC has presented 207 papers in local and 337 papers in international conferences. RRC has published 50 papers in local and 178 papers in international journals.