UMMC physician named president of 53,000-member group

A member of the faculty of the University of Mississippi Medical Center has been named president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Dr. James Martin, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UMMC, was installed today in Washington, D.C., as president of the 53,000-member organization that is the leading group of physicians providing health care for women.

Martin, a member of the UMMC faculty for 28 years, is the author of more than 500 scientific publications and communications, many of which address issues related to preeclampsia-eclampsia and atypical forms of this disease such as HELLP syndrome. The Preeclampsia Foundation presented Martin with its Hope Award in 2009 for lifetime achievement in preeclampsia research. He is a fellow of both the American Heart Association and the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society. He is a past president of the North American Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

During his presidency of ACOG, Martin's focus will be on preeclampsia and hypertensive complications of pregnancy. Despite being a leading cause of maternal death and sickness, the disease process is little understood after decades of research.

"To conquer this disease, we must know how it begins as well as how it ends," Martin said.

The disease process, he said, remains among the most understudied and underfunded in research compared to other diseases. "Such slow, underfunded research limits growth in evidence-based information and foments controversy surrounding the classification, diagnosis and management of the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy," he said.