Dr. Roy Martin once described being human this way:

“Being human is a journey we take, hopefully together,” he said. “A journey with people we don’t find it easy to work with but from whom we continue to learn more. I learn more from people I disagree with than from those I agree with.”

Perhaps no one had the ability to make us think about ethics and humanity like Dr. Martin. The visionary practitioner of interprofessionalism spent more than 40 years helping organizations develop and live up to their codes of ethics. He served as a pediatric chaplain and helped medical students wrestle with the complex ethical issues they will face in practice.

He built strong collaborations between UNTHSC and the Tarrant County Medical Society’s Ethics Consortium, local hospitals, several non-profit agencies and TCU’s Brite Divinity School.

Always an innovative thinker, Dr. Martin earned UNTHSC’s highest honor, the Founders Medal, in 2015. The award is given for “significant contributions to health care and/or osteopathic medical education.”

Dr. Martin, who retired in August 2019, made UNTHSC a more compassionate place.

Contribute Honor your HSC hero today! Please make a tribute gift, submit a photo or share a story that you value. Join us throughout 2020 as we celebrate the people, events and innovations that made UNTHSC all it is today — and look ahead to the next 50 years. For the 50th anniversary, team members nominated people whose contributions make them HSC Heroes. Each week, a new Hero will be revealed. View the list of all our Hero profiles published so far this year. There is a new one each week.