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2019 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 928
Commending Marcus L. Martin, M.D.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 18, 2019
Agreed to by the Senate, February 21, 2019
 

WHEREAS, Marcus L. Martin, M.D., a trailblazing leader for African Americans in the fields of medicine and higher education, has touched the lives of countless students through his work as the vice president and chief officer for diversity and equity at the University of Virginia; and

WHEREAS, a native of Covington, Marcus Martin pursued an education at North Carolina State University through a scholarship from the paper mill where his father worked and became the first African American member of the university’s football team; and

WHEREAS, Marcus Martin subsequently worked at the paper mill for two years, before enrolling at Eastern Virginia Medical School as a member of its charter class of 24 students; he became the first African American graduate in 1976; and

WHEREAS, Marcus Martin was commissioned by the United States Public Health Service and worked as a general medical officer at the Gallup Indian Medical Center in New Mexico, then became the first African American graduate of the emergency medicine residency program at the University of Cincinnati in 1981; and

WHEREAS, after a series of staff and administrative postings at Allegheny General Hospital, Marcus Martin joined the University of Virginia School of Medicine as chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and was the first African American to head any clinical department at the school; and

WHEREAS, during his distinguished tenure at the University of Virginia, Marcus Martin has offered his expertise to the Summer Medical Dental Education Program, led a team of health specialists to provide relief after natural disasters, and established the innovative Emergency Medicine Center for Education, Research and Technology; and

WHEREAS, in 2011, Marcus Martin was appointed as the vice president and chief officer for diversity and equity and has since overseen efforts at all levels of university life to recruit and retain students and faculty from underrepresented populations, close the achievement gap for minority students, and create a safe, welcoming, and inclusive atmosphere on campus; and

WHEREAS, Marcus Martin has supported young people in the region directly through his work to establish a medical science program at Charlottesville High School and a summer program at Burley Middle School; and

WHEREAS, highly admired by his peers in the field of emergency medicine, he was the first African American president of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), and the first African American president of the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors; and

WHEREAS, Marcus Martin has earned numerous awards and accolades, including the 1994 Joseph F. Waeckerle Founder’s Award from the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association, the 2008 Citizen of the Year award from Omega Psi Phi fraternity, the 2009 Distinguished Dozen award from The Daily Progress, and SAEM’s Diversity Interest Group Leadership Award, which was renamed in his honor; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Marcus L. Martin, M.D., for his myriad personal and professional achievements in medicine and higher education; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Marcus L. Martin, M.D., as an expression of the General Assembly’s admiration for his contributions to the students of the University of Virginia and the Commonwealth as a whole.