A native of
Topeka, Kansas, Martin served as a hospital corpsman in the
U.S. Navy for five years after completing high school. He graduated from the
University of Kansas in 1966 and the
University of Kansas School of Medicine in 1970. Martin completed his residency in pediatrics at the
Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center in
the Bronx in 1973. Martin arrived at the Pentagon in 1989 after 15 years of executive leadership positions with the
Public Health Service. He served as Chief of Staff for
C. Everett Koop, M.D., Surgeon General; Director, Bureau of Health Care Delivery and Assistance; Acting Deputy Administrator,
Health Resources and Services Administration; and Director,
Bureau of Community Health Services. Martin was commissioned in the
Public Health Service in May 1975 and held the rank of Rear Admiral upon his retirement in April 1998. After his retirement, Martin joined
Science Applications International Corporation as a Senior Vice-President and
Chief Medical Officer. He is currently the co-founder and chairman of Martin, Blanck & Associates, a company which he founded along with former Army Surgeon General
Ronald R. Blanck. ==Personal life==