Dr. Robert Martensen

Dr. Robert Martensens recent book for general readers, A Life Worth Living: A Doctors Reflections on Illness in a High-Tech Era (2008), tells stories of people at all stages of life as they cope with serious illness in the wondrous and perilous world of contemporary US Medicine. He has been praised for his ability to look straight in the eye at uncomfortable truthsyet do so in an intimate, almost caressing waythat may change how we see the world, and how we think. (John Barry) and offer the insights of an experienced clinician, the perspective of an historian, and the voice of a close friend. (Ira Byock, MD). Robert also works with medical organizations. For example, in the American College of Surgeons published Surgical Palliative Care: A Residents Guide, for which he served as a co-editor. On April 2, 2009, Terry Gross of NPRs Fresh Air discussed End of Life care with Robert, and the audio is available at npr.org. During 2009-2010, Robert has given presentations to diverse audiences at Group Health (Seattle), U. of Washington, Harvard Medical School, Hospice of the Western Reserve (Cleveland), annual ROSE conference of RGA Reinsurance Company, Temple University Department of Surgery, and Jefferson University Conference on Population Health, among others.

Robert works at the National Institutes of Health as Director of its Office of History and is a Lecturer in Harvards Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. He serves on the advisory boards of Science Translational Medicine and the Encyclopedia of Trauma. His educational background includes a BA from Harvard College, MD from Dartmouth Medical School, and PhD from U. of California, San Francisco, where he trained in Emergency Medicine. His scholarship on history of neuroscience has been supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship (2002) and grants from the NIH and Wellcome Trust. As an emergency physician, he has helped care for approximately 75,000 patients.