A trustee between 2008 and 2014, Martin is the Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. He is the former dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University, chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and dean of the UCSF School of Medicine. He is also the past chief of the Neurology Department of Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School. He is a former director of Baxter International and of Scientific Learning Corporation. Martin is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is a graduate of the University of Alberta (MD ’62) and the University of Rochester (PhD anatomy ’71).