James B. Aguayo-Martel
Dr. James Martel, MD MPH FACS, a graduate of Stanford University, obtained his Medical Degree from Harvard
Medical School and his Master of Public Health in biostatistics and epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health. He interned at Beth Israel Hospital and completed his ophthalmology residency at Wilmer Ophthalmological
Institute. He currently serves as a Clinical Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Medical Education at California Northstate University College of Medicine. He is also the Medical Director of Martel Eye Medical
Group and provides on call ophthalmology services for five hospitals in the Sacramento, California area.
Dr. Martel provides ophthalmologic care of patients in his private clinics, emergency department, intensive speciality care for medical/surgery/neuro and trauma units and other speciality units (bone marrow transplantation), as well as the emergency department. He believes that a multi-team approach is essential for providing his patients with the highest and most efficient care. As such, he has integrated the service lines of ophthalmology, ENT, plastic surgery, neuro-surgery, neuro-intensivist/neurology, radiology, infectious disease, oncology, general surgery, hospital medicine, and emergency medicine in the hospitals in which he practices. Given the current state of the health care system, one approach to accomplishing the goal of providing care to the enlarging population of patients and the lacking supply of specialists is the development and utilization of telepresence in the form of teleophthalmology on a robotic platform. Dr. Martel is presently implementing this system into linking together a 57 hospital system.
As a physician, he is always teaching and educating his patients and students which he feels is an integral part of the practice of medicine. He is currently taking part of teaching programs, which shifted his concentration from the more traditional medical practice towards integrating new technologies into his practice and delivering new methods of mentoring and inspiration to future physicians. He believes in opening education to students and residents by introducing them to these new technologies and relying on their input to develop them into innovators and leaders in the medical field. He has established a fellowship in teleanalytics, a program dedicated to providing a more meaningful experience to students before they enter medical school and promotes the development of new telemedicine opportunities, research, education, and mentoring.
Dr. Martel believes that the future of improving medicine lies in the availability of open access articles. He is delighted in leading New Frontiers in Ophthalmology, a journal which encourages everyone, not just physicians, to read and comment on the current research being performed and the overall medical system. This promotes new innovation and novel input, which will transform medicine into the global health system it needs to be. The open source, electronic medical journal is an example of how a global health system will be achievable. The ability of being able to universally access knowledge at your fingertips - whether with a phone, a tablet, a computer monitor, a television screen, or in a HoloLens, moves society one more step towards this future.
