William J. Martin II, MD

William J. Martin II comes to the College of Public Health from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he served as associate director for disease prevention and health.

Martin has substantial experience in both academia and in governmental scientific administration. One of his principal activities at NIH was the development and implementation of research and training programs across the U.S. government to reduce the global burden of disease among women and children from household air pollution in developing countries, which causes nearly four million deaths each year.

Prior to serving at the NICHD, he served as associate director of NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and as its director of the Office of Translational Research, where he led the Head-Off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana (HEAL) study of asthma outcomes in children in post-Katrina New Orleans.

As a physician-scientist in lung injury and repair, he has authored more than 160 research and clinical papers and was an NIH-funded researcher for 24 years. His professional service includes being president of the American Thoracic Society, president of the American Lung Association of Indiana, a member of the Advisory Council for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and a health policy fellow for the U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee.

In addition, his honors and recognitions include the Sagamore of the Wabash Award from the governor of Indiana; NIH's Director's Award; and the President's Volunteer Service Award for his work with Project Hope during Hurricane Katrina relief. Further, he has served three times in Haiti as a volunteer physician since the earthquake there in 2010. He is also included on the America's Best Doctors listing.

Martin began his academic career as an assistant professor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., providing clinical care as well as starting his research laboratory. He then served as professor of medicine and director of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Occupational Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine, and ultimately became that School of Medicine's executive associate dean for clinical affairs and president of the faculty practice plan. He then served as dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati prior to joining the NIH in 2006.

(Dean Martin's photo © Stephen Pariser Photography)