Health Equity Champion

Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., F.A.P.A., is executive director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at The University of Texas at Austin. Martinez is also a Senior Associate Vice-President within the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, where he heads up the Community Integrated Health Initiatives program for the university. He is the Associate Chair of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Dell Medical School Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, a Professor of Psychiatry at DMS, Clinical Professor at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work, Faculty Affiliate of the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice in the School of Law, and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the Long School of Medicine, UT Health San Antonio. Internationally, Martinez is a member of the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership. Nationally, he is a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a member of the ACD’s Health Equity Workgroup. He is also a board member of Trust for America’s Health, a member of the Psychiatric Services Journal editorial board, and a current member and former chair of the National Hispanic Council on Aging. Martinez recently served on the Presidential COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force for the White House and served on the National Advisory Committee for Rural Health and Human Services for HHS. At the Texas state level, he is a commissioner for the Judicial Commission on Mental Health and an executive committee member for the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium.