Peter R. Martin: Biographic Sketch

  

            Peter R. Martin, M.D., M.Sc. is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.  Dr. Martin received an Honors B.Sc. in Molecular Genetics in 1971 and the M.D., C.M. in 1975, from McGill University and a M.Sc. (Pharmacology) from the University of Toronto in 1979.  He was Resident in Internal Medicine (1975-1976), Fellow in Clinical Pharmacology (1976-1978) and Resident in Psychiatry (1978-1980), all at the University of Toronto.  Subsequently, he was a Visiting Scientist in the Section of Experimental Therapeutics, Laboratory of Clinical Science, National Institute of Mental Health (1980-1983); Chief of the Section of Clinical Science, Laboratory of Clinical Studies at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (1983-1986); and Associate Professor with Tenure in the Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University (1986-1992).  He was the founding Director of both the Division of Addiction Psychiatry (1986-2013) and the Vanderbilt Addiction Center.

            Dr. Martin’s research and scholarly interests include the molecular basis, diagnosis and treatment of drug use disorders with an emphasis on substance-induced mental disorders. These include investigations of the molecular biology of thiamine and use of magnetic resonance spectroscopy and functional magnetic resonance imaging to elucidate the pathogenesis of addiction and alcohol-induced brain damage.  He has also conducted clinical pharmacology studies of addictive substances, including novel treatments of addictive disorders and addicted women during pregnancy.  Finally, he has worked to conceptualize medical illnesses such as obesity and over-eating from the perspective of a behavioral addiction and their treatment consistent with this perspective.  The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse have funded his research program and he has also received foundation and pharmaceutical industry support.  Dr. Martin is author of nine books, including Substance Abuse in the Mentally and Physically Disabled (Marcel Dekker, Inc. 2001) and Healing Addiction: An Integrated Pharmacopsychosocial Approach to Treatment (John Wiley and Sons 2006) and more than 200 scientific publications.  Dr. Martin has a long-term involvement in training physician scientists and clinicians guided by evidence-based approaches in their clinical practice.  Dr. Martin is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Canada), Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry and Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in Psychiatry with Certification in the Subspecialty of Addiction Psychiatry.

 

August 8, 2019