Cindy Martin, M.D., has been named Flagstaff Medical Center’s 2011 Physician of the Year. Dr. Martin will receive FMC’s 18th annual Healing Excellence and Leadership (HEAL) award at a ceremony on Thursday, March 31, as part of FMC’s celebration of National Doctors’ Day.
Each year, FMC presents the HEAL award to a physician on its active staff who exemplifies the mission, vision and values of FMC by working in partnership with the hospital to provide excellent healthcare services to patients and the community. This year, 27 physicians were nominated for the award by FMC staff, physicians, volunteers and board members.
Dr. Martin is board certified in internal medicine, pediatrics and hospice/palliative medicine. She has been on staff at FMC since 2004. Dr. Martin is the medical director of FMC’s Palliative Care Program, department chair of FMC’s Pediatric Department and chair of FMC’s Ethics Committee.
In nomination forms, Dr. Martin was recognized for her holistic approach to caring for her patients – ranging in age from newborns to the elderly. She was recognized for her calm and compassionate demeanor, the value she places on her patients and her integration of family members into the medical care process.
Additionally, Dr. Martin was recognized for her contributions in establishing FMC’s Inpatient Palliative Care Program.Palliative care is any form of medical care or treatment that concentrates on reducing the severity of disease symptoms, rather than striving to halt, delay or reverse progression of the disease itself or provide a cure. The goal of Palliative Care is to prevent and relievesuffering and to improve quality of life for people facing serious, complex illness. Care focuses on the whole person, including physical, emotional and spiritual needs.
Dr. Martin also was instrumental in developing an Outpatient Palliative Care Program at the Cancer Centers of Northern Arizona. Plans are being made to develop an Outpatient Palliative Care Program for the Flagstaff community.
Dr. Martin practices at Flagstaff Family Care Clinic. She and her husband Andrew Martin, M.D., family medicine physicians, moved to Flagstaff 2004. Both physicians earned their medical degrees from the University of Texas at Houston in 1996 and worked on the Navajo Reservation from 2000 to 2004. Dr. Martin is board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society.
“It is an extraordinary honor to have been selected to receive this award and be among such a group of esteemed colleagues,” Dr. Martin said. “I am fortunate to be part of such an outstanding group of physicians and caregivers who embrace the same values of caring for the whole person, from birth to death. I am grateful to my fellow physicians, nurses and hospital management for the support they have given in the development of FMC’s Palliative Care Program.”
Previous HEAL recipients include Andrew Aldridge, M.D; Tamara Johnson-Baack, M.D.; Alice Berger, M.D.; Jeffrey Christenson, M.D.; Edgar Clark, M.D.; John Durham, M.D.; Theodore Lewis, M.D.; Jerry Mohr, M.D.; John Mougin, M.D.; Richard Neff, M.D.; Brad Noblett, M.D.; Mark Peterson, D.O.; Stephen Ritland, M.D.; Kenneth Salce, M.D.; Harnath Singh, M.D.; John Steenbarger, M.D.; and Dan Wesche, M.D.
For more information about FMC programs and services, or to find a physician, visit FlagstaffMedicalCenter.com.
