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Hi! Welcome To My Web page!

Top of Fox Glacier

South Island

New Zealand

Ayer's Rock

Alice Springs

Australia

Fjords along the Andes

Bariloche, Argentina

Who am I?

Hello, my name is Luis Martinez and I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Cuban parents. I grew up around boats which is why I have such a passion for the ocean. As a teenager, I volunteered at Miami Children's Hospital where I developed X-Rays on weekends. After 5 years of volunteering, I developed a very special relationship with doctors, nurses and patients, and felt certain that medicine was what I wanted to do. Life later took me on a different path and I got involved with managing rental properties and mortgages for a private investor. This led me to form my own company, which I called Coconut Grove Properties Management, Inc. I also had the opportunity to vacation abroad and travel to wonderful destinations like Australia, New Zealand, South America and Europe.

The flame which I had lit as a volunteer at Children's hospital was not completely out and I dreamt of returning to school to pursue a medical career. Nothing short of a "giant leap of faith" brought me to the University of Tennessee to follow my dreams. I became a member of the Threshold Honors Program and I majored in biochemistry/ cellular and molecular biology. I was involved with several honor societies including Golden Key, which I was vice-president of. I taught at the Tennessee Governor's School for the Sciences and worked in various ecology and BCMB laboratories at UT. I performed research at U.T. Hospital with Dr. Hubner and Mr. Shannon Campbell in the X-Ray and Imaging departments. My area of interest involved the use of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) as a cancer diagnostic tool. I was a volunteer for Remote Area Medical which provides healthcare in underserved areas of the U.S. and 3rd world countries. I am currently a 2nd-year medical student at the University of Tennessee, Memphis and will graduate in 2005. My future plans are to practice medicine in rural East Tennessee.