Alumni Focus

Kathryn Martin DMS '80: DMS a Jewel of a Medical School

Kathryn Martin DMS '80

To say that Dr. Kathryn Martin's life is busy is a tremendous understatement. She's an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard, a faculty member of the Reproductive Endocrine Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, and co-director of the Reproductive Endocrine Associates, the Unit's group practice. She's also a deputy editor of UptoDate, a popular online clinical resource written by physicians, for physicians. She lectures nationally and internationally on reproductive endocrinology. And as if all this weren't enough, Dr. Martin is also the proud mom of fifteen-year-old twins Conor and Hannah.

Fortunately for Dartmouth Medical School, this alum of the Class of 1980 is never too busy for her alma mater. Not only does Dr. Martin support the Medical School by giving to the Fund for DMS, she has also taken part in two important DMS events this year. In March, she spoke at the Dartmouth Women in Medicine Conference and in September, she returned to DMS for her 25th reunion and spoke at the CME symposium. "It's really fun to come back," Dr. Martin explains. "It's great to see people I haven't seen in years."

"I look back at my med school days with great fondness," she continues. "There were many excellent teachers, in both basic science and clinical medicine. When I got into the 'real world', I felt very well prepared."

Two faculty members who played important roles in preparing Kathryn Martin for a life in medicine were former Chief of Medicine Dr. George Bernier and former Chief of Endocrinology Dr. Robert Adler. "Dr. Adler was a major reason why I went into endocrinology," recalls Dr. Martin.

But it wasn't just her professors who enriched her DMS experience. "I made many close friends, and I met my husband, Dr. David Systrom (DMS '79) at DMS," she says. Today, Dr. Martin enjoys a busy career as physician, writer/editor, researcher, lecturer, and, perhaps most important to her, clinical teacher. She explains, "Clinical mentoring is so rewarding. I am responsible for the clinical training of fellows and junior faculty in our department, and it's been exciting to watch their careers develop."

Though it's too soon to know the careers her children-who are still in high school-will ultimately choose, if they enter medicine, Kathryn Martin would be pleased to see them train at DMS, where she experienced rewarding mentoring relationships as a student. "DMS has an academically rigorous but very nurturing environment. It's small, which allows very important relationships to develop between students and faculty," she observes. "It's a jewel of a medical school."

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