Dr. Octavio N. Martinez Jr., a professor and clinical psychiatrist with experience in finance and banking, has been appointed executive director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at The University of Texas at Austin.
Martinez was selected following a national search for a successor to Dr. King Davis, who resigned as executive director in May to return to teaching full time in the university’s School of Social Work. Martinez will take office on Aug. 11 as the fifth executive director and the first Hispanic to lead the foundation since it was created in 1940. Martinez also will hold an academic appointment in the School of Social Work.
A native Texan, Martinez has been a clinical psychiatrist at the Albemarle Mental Health Center and an associate professor at the Brody School of Medicine in North Carolina since 2006. Prior to that he was an assistant professor and psychiatrist at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Before entering medical school Martinez worked in commercial real estate, banking and finance in Austin.
His academic credentials include a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University’s School of Public Health, a doctor’s degree in medicine from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in business administration with a concentration in finance from The University of Texas at Austin.
“Dr. Martinez brings an unusual and impressive combination of experience and education that will complement and support the foundation’s mission to improve mental health in Texas,” said Dr. Gregory Vincent, vice president for diversity and community engagement at the university. The foundation is part of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.
“His broad and varied background in public health, psychiatry, academia and finance, combined with his extensive management experience in clinical, higher education and business settings, will serve the foundation, the division and the university well.”
Martinez has extensive classroom and clinical teaching experience in a variety of subjects related to psychiatry and medical practice. His areas of interest include minority health and health disparities and education of medical students and residents.
“I am quite honored to continue the important and timely initiatives developed by the Hogg Foundation staff under Dr. Davis’ leadership,” Martinez said. “The opportunity to be part of a team and an organization dedicated to improving the mental health of all Texans regardless of race, culture, or socioeconomic status is truly exciting.”
His professional affiliations include the National Hispanic Medical Association, the Harvard Faculty Club, the American Psychiatric Association and the Reede Scholars, a network of public health leaders who have completed The Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy at Harvard Medical School.
Martinez is licensed to practice medicine in Texas and in North Carolina and is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
