Dr. Roni Baha Maii — a Kurdish physician originally from Western Kurdistan (northern Syria) and living in Moscow — has received Russia’s top medical award for developing a new medical method for treating a childhood disease. 

Together with two other doctors, he tested the technique through experimental surgery, and the results were successful. As a result, he was recognized by the Russian government as one of the country's top physicians and was honored at a ceremony attended by Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova and Health Minister Mikhail Murashko.

Dr. Maii says that he and two colleagues have developed a new brain-treatment method with global significance. The technique helps prevent severe disability in children suffering from aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency, a rare genetic disorder. The method assists children who are unable to move and who can only be fed through a gastric tube.

Using this technique, doctors can deliver medication and treatment directly to a child’s brain while monitoring the procedure on a screen. The medicine is administered very slowly and precisely to a targeted area of the brain, allowing affected children to develop and grow more normally.

Dr. Maii and his two colleagues have demonstrated the effectiveness of the method through several successful surgeries. Thanks to this major medical innovation, treatment may now become available for children who were previously considered terminally ill and had little chance of survival. The method can be used on children younger than one year old, giving them the opportunity to live a more normal life at an early age.

Among the doctors in Russia who have received awards for innovation and saving human lives, Dr. Maii is the first Kurdish physician to be honored by the Russian government.