Alborz University of Medical Sciences is based in Karaj, in the Alborz foothills. It was founded in 2006 as the local branch of the Iraq University of Medical Sciences, offering six associate-level qualifications.

Renamed as the Medical Science Faculty of Karaj in 2009, it took its name and current role as part of Iran’s network of public state medical colleges in 2010.

Its 33-hectare campus, created in 2017, is home to faculties of medicine, dentistry, health, paramedical science, nursing and midwifery, nutrition, and emergency medicine. 

There are five research centres, focussing on non-communicable diseases, health, safety and environment, food supplements and probiotic research, social factors affecting health and evidence-based herbal and complementary medicine.

It is the hub of a network of 21 hospitals and five healthcare centres serving a population of more than two million people. The new campus was part of a wave of 764 medical projects in the province, opened in 2018 by the Minister of Health.