Robert Martin

Biography

Robert Martin, MPH, DrPH has received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Public Health Laboratories. This award recognizes individuals with a distinguished history of service to APHL. It is presented to those who have made significant contributions to the advancement of public health laboratory science or practice, exhibited leadership in the field of public health, or positively influenced public health policy on a national or global level. Dr. Martin has worked in public health since 1973 when he joined the Michigan Department of Public Health as a microbiologist and was the director of the Michigan Public Health Laboratories from 1991 until 1999. From 1999 until 2006, he was the director of the Division of Laboratory Systems at CDC which had both a domestic and international focus. In 2006 – 2007, Bob fulfilled a role first as Acting Director of the National Center for Public Health Informatics and then as the Associate Director for Public Health and Medical Care Integration in the Coordinating Center for Health Information and Services. Most recently, he served as the Laboratory Science Officer in the Coordinating Office for Global Health. During his time at CDC, Dr. Martin provided leadership in the development of regulation impacting the practice of laboratory medicine in the U.S. (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) working with many professional organizations, and provided leadership in a nationwide effort leading to the concept of a national system of laboratories encompassing both public and private laboratories. He also developed an international focus within the Division of Laboratory Systems at CDC to address strengthening laboratory capacity in international settings. In that capacity, Dr. Martin worked with the CDC Global AIDS Program, with the Department of Defense (Defense Threat Reduction Program), with World Bank, and with the World Health Organization in Africa, Southeast Asia and Central Asia to address strengthening of laboratory systems. Dr. Martin went to the International Training & Education Center for Health (I-TECH) at the University of Washington from the CDC. At I-TECH, he provided leadership in laboratory systems strengthening within the larger context of health systems development and has been providing technical assistance to countries where I-TECH has activities addressing laboratory development (e.g., Haiti, Ethiopia, Botswana, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and the Caribbean). Dr. Martin is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Washington.

Research Interest

He is a president at DmDP.