TEHRAN: The Iranian Parliament approved President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nominee for Health Minister, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, yesterday.

Dastjerdi is the country's first woman to be appointed to the cabinet since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Dastjerdi is reportedly a hard-line conservative who has previously proposed gender segregated healthcare. She is a gynecologist and currently teaches at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, where she is also a member of the Medical Ethics Board Committee, reported Bloomberg.

Ahmadinejad was sworn in to his second term in office August 5, following widespread massive protests both in Iran and internationally after June's disputed presidential election. Women played a major role in the public uprising that followed the election and were particularly visible during the election campaigns.link