Chairman, Martin, Blanck & Associates
Edward D. Martin, M.D. is the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Martin, Blanck & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm to the health care industry, government, and to biotech companies. Martin, Blanck and Associates was founded in March of 1998. Most recently, Martin has focused on providing business and management advisory assistance to developing companies and venture capital groups. He serves on the Board of a Baird Capital company, METI, and is a senior business advisor for Cleveland Bio Labs, Protokinetics and several small developing companies. He continues to be the principal strategic advisor for the National Association of Community Health Centers.
From July, 2000 through December, 2004 Dr. Martin was a senior vice president and the chief medical officer at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and continues to support SAIC on a part-time basis. In this role, he had P and L responsibility for a $600 million business with over 2200 employees.
Dr. Martin had a distinguished 30-year career in public service as a commissioned officer in the United States Public Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services. His last assignments were at the Department of Defense where he served as the acting assistant secretary of defense (health affairs), and, prior to this appointment, as principal deputy assistant secretary of defense (health affairs). In the latter position, held from December 1992 to April 1997, Dr. Martin exercised day-to-day executive management and oversight of all Department of Defense health policies, programs, and activities within the Military Health System (MHS). The Nation’s second largest health care system, the MHS, delivers care to over 9 million beneficiaries through a worldwide network of more than 500 hospitals and clinics, and provides military beneficiaries with a triple-option health program.
In his two terms as acting assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, Dr. Martin assumed responsibility for the overall supervision of the health and medical affairs of the DoD. He also served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense (professional affairs and quality assurance) from March 1990 until December 1992.
Dr. Martin arrived at the Pentagon in 1989 after 15 years of executive leadership positions with the Public Health Service (PHS). 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. Dr. Martin was commissioned in the PHS in May 1975 and held the rank of Rear Admiral upon his retirement in April 1998.
A native of Topeka, Kan., Dr. Martin served for 5 years as a United States Navy Hospital Corpsman prior to completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Kansas in 1966. He received his M.D. degree from the University of Kansas Medical School in 1970 and completed his residency in Pediatrics at the Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center in 1973.
Dr. Martin has written on topics ranging from rural health and primary care initiatives to quality of care. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including two Public Health Service Distinguished Service Medals, the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorous Civilian Service.
Dr. Martin resides in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife, Kathleen, a retired captain in the Public Health Service, and their two sons, James and William.