Medical Oncologist & Scientist

Paul Martin — Dr. Paul J. Martin. Photo by Robert Hood / Fred Hutch News Service

Paul J. Martin, MD

Note: Dr. Martin recently retired and now is Professor Emeritus.

As both a medical oncologist and a medical scientist, Dr. Paul J. Martin has managed the treatment plans of cancer patients while also investigating ways to prevent devastating side-effects from blood stem cell transplants. He knew he wanted to be a doctor from a young age, but it was an article about bone marrow transplantation that led him to Fred Hutch Cancer Center.

Dr. Martin is currently a Member of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutch and a Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Washington.

Fred Hutch Faculty Profile
Spotlight on Dr. Martin

"When I started more than 40 years ago, I could never have imagined the work that I would be doing today."

— Dr. Martin

Dr. Martin's Story

Growing Up Across Three States

Dr. Martin spent his childhood in San Francisco, Reno, and Milwaukee. Somehow, he knew from an early age that he wanted to be a doctor, although there were no doctors in his family. His father was a professor of business administration and Dean of the business school at a university, and his mother had been a flight attendant before marriage, and later worked in an art shop.

While in college working toward a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry, he took classes across a wide range of interests: English literature, German language, philosophy, history, art history, sociology, physics, and mathematics. He then went on to medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, earning his M.D. in 1974. Dr. Martin then spent the next three years as an intern and resident in hospitals at Tufts University and Case Western University, learning how to take care of patients.

The one class he wish he would have taken? Statistics. Dr. Martin reflected, "in retrospect, I realize I should have taken statistics [in college], so I had to become acquainted with that subject after I started doing research."

In this photograph from the 1980s, transplant physicians at the Hutch meet around an overhead projector to discuss research findings. Seated at the far left is Dr. Don Thomas in a vest. Dr. Martin is seated across the table on the far right. Photo courtesy of Dr. Martin

An Article Brings Him to Fred Hutch

During his internship in 1975 following medical school, Dr. Martin read an article about bone marrow transplantation that would change the course of his career and lead him to Fred Hutch Cancer Center. The article was written by Dr. Don Thomas (known as the father as bone marrow transplantation who was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1990) and his colleagues working at the Hutch in Seattle. Dr. Martin remembers being "enthralled with the idea that this treatment could cure cancer in some patients."

Although Dr. Thomas had been researching the idea for at least 20 years, the field of bone marrow transplantation was really just beginning. It was complex work that brought together knowledge and expertise in cancer, hematology, transfusion medicine, immunology, infectious diseases, and nutrition. Dr. Martin remembered that Dr. Thomas later said, about himself, that he was stubborn to keep working on bone marrow transplantation despite the complexity and set-backs. But it was "his perseverance in the face of adversity that was truly inspiring." Inspired by Dr. Thomas' article, Dr. Martin began his specialty training in oncology at Fred Hutch in Seattle in 1977. He is deeply grateful for the opportunity to have worked with Dr. Thomas.

An Important Mentor

Another important influence in Dr. Martin's professional career was his mentor and close colleague Dr. John A. Hansen, a transplant immunologist. Very early in his career, Dr. Martin asked Dr. Hansen if he could work with him and continue his training. Although Dr. Martin had little experience with laboratory work, Dr. Hansen "must have seen some promise in me" and invited Dr. Martin to join him in the summer of 1978. Dr. Martin reflected that his mentor "taught me how to think and write in a scientific way, but also gave me room to pursue my own interests that differed from his." Dr. Martin remembered, "we were a good team. He liked to start projects, and I liked to finish them."

With one foot in the clinical side and the other foot in the research side of his field, Dr. Martin understands the challenges of a career in oncology and medical science.

A Major Challenge for Patient Care Is Balancing Risks With Rewards

Dr. Martin explained that "bone marrow and blood cell transplantation is life-saving for many patients, but it can also cause life-threatening complications." These potential side effects can include graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a common but potentially devastating complication of stem cell transplants in which the immune cells from the donor identify the recipient cells as foreign and attack them. Dr. Martin reflected that the results of these treatments "can fall far short of what we had hoped" and that "helping patients and family members cope with disappointing results was always a major challenge when I worked in the hospital or clinic."

Previously, Dr. Martin was Director of Long-Term Follow-Up (LTFU) for the Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Program at Fred Hutch. The program provided long-term care, tracking, and monitoring of patients who had received a bone marrow or blood stem cell transplant through the Hutch as a way of learning more about survivorship and the benefits and risks of these treatments for patients and their families.

A Major Challenge for Medical Research Is the Cost

Dr. Martin explained that "part of the job is finding money to pay the costs," which includes writing grant applications, proposals, and reports to the federal government. "We have to come up with new and exciting ideas that could solve important problems," Dr. Martin explained, "and then persuade the government and other sponsors that our work would be a good investment toward advancing science and improving health."

Outside of Work

In his free time, Dr. Martin and his wife enjoy theater, music, and travel (where they like to ski and snorkel). He enjoys reading both fiction and non-fiction, as well as playing folk music from the 1960s and 1970s on his guitar. They have two adult children, five grandchildren, and a dog named Kashi.

Dr. Martin and nurses at a clinic Halloween gathering in the 1980s. — Dr. Martin and nurses at a clinic Halloween gathering in the 1980s in which the nurses dressed in their old caps and uniforms. Dr. Martin is seated to the right of the nurse holding a yellow bedpan. Photo courtesy of Dr. Martin

A Day in the Life

Dr. Paul J. Martin has spent the past four decades at Fred Hutch focused on helping people with blood cancers and other blood disorders. As he nears retirement, Dr. Martin reflected on what a typical day on the job has looked like him over the years, saying that they "have always been interesting." When focused more on clinical work and patient care, Dr. Martin worked in an oncology clinic or hospital setting taking care of patients who were receiving bone marrow or blood stem cell transplants to treat life-threatening diseases, like leukemia and other blood cancers. Dr. Martin reflected, "we always worked as a team, and members of the team have included people from all over the world.

When focused more on research, Dr. Martin could be found in a laboratory conducting experiments to better understand how the immune systems of donors and recipients work during bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants. Dr. Martin stated, "I really enjoy solving puzzles. Some puzzles are tiny and not very significant, but with some puzzles, I had discoveries that no one had seen before. But for every puzzle solved, dozens of other remain to be solved."

Dr. Martin also organized clinical trials. These were important to "test out new ideas about how to improve results of transplantation by controlling immune reactions more effectively." As with most scientific investigations, "in a few cases, the results came out the way I had expected," he reflected. "More often, however, they did not, but no matter what the results were, we always learned something from the testing."

Learning Never Ends

Dr. Martin explained the importance of continual learning in a rapidly changing field of study. "During each week, I attend lectures and do some reading to keep up with progress, since learning never ends," he said. "I also evaluate the work of other researchers and write about what we have learned from our own research." This work is highly collaborative, noting that "on most days, I have meetings with colleagues, and I spend at least an hour with e-mail every day."

The Best Part of His Job?

Dr. Martin thinks that the best part of his job is "that it keeps evolving toward something new, things that I could not have predicted."

Advice for Students

Dr. Martin recognizes that jobs in medical research and clinician jobs taking care of patients are becoming more complex, so that in the future it might not be possible to excel simultaneously in both.

His advice? Specialization. Dr. Martin cautions that the decision to specialize, however, should come later in life, "after discovering the activities that gives the most personal satisfaction and sense of making valued contributions in life." To be a good clinician or researcher, Dr. Martin emphasizes the importance of developing both scientific and humanistic skills. On the science side, Dr. Martin advises students to study mathematics, with a nod toward the increasingly computational nature of biomedical fields. "I see a future in which more and more advances in biology and medicine will come from analysis of large, complex data sets." On the humanistic side, Dr. Martin has this advice: "Work as hard as you can to learn what it's like to live in someone else's shoes by asking and listening without judgement."

"In high school, keep your options open, get to know yourself, and explore as widely as possible."