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Rick A. Martinez, M.D.

Photograph of Rick Martinez

...I think what we need to look at is people in our own lives, our own families, the filial responsibility that we have to one another. Those kinds of things should be the source of inspiration for future careers...

Interview conducted by: Jeffrey Light on 27 June 1997 at 10:45 AM EDT
Q: Good Morning Dr. Martinez.
A: Good Morning.
Q: What exactly is your professions, what is it you do every day?
A: Well, I am a physician with the National Institutes of Health and in particular the National Institute of Mental Health where I work with sociologists, psychologists and other physicians who study aging issues and psychiatric problems of aging populations?
Q: So what exactly is it that you do when You come to work every day?
A: Well, basically what I do is provide advice to people around the country who do research looking at late life mental disorders. As you know, NIH spends about 80% of its $12 billion budget on about 15,000 researchers around the country at 1700 institutions around the U.S. These are usually university-based, hospital-based research centers. And what the folks here at NIH do, we give advice to these researchers who want to study various topics from cancer to depression.
Q: The students who are listening to this interview are probably wondering what you need to put in to get to this position and what you get out of it. Could you please briefly describe the education that was required for you to get to this profession and the range of salaries that are available in this profession?
A: As you know, there is a surplus of physicians in this country and that surplus is actually going to grow in the next millennium. In fact, they expect there will be a 30% surplus of physicians in the U.S. So in terms of how to advise young people about careers in medicine, that’s hard to say. We’re always going to need people to take care of sick people, that’s for sure, because there are always going to be sick people. But there are other ways of taking care of sick people, other than going to medical school. If we look at nurses, nursing assistants, people who help people recovering from strokes to help regain use of their limbs. There are all kinds of disciplines in the health profession that people can study, rather than just being a physician or just working as a physician.
Q: Are there any special technologies that you use at your job?
A: Well, I used to. Before I became a bureaucrat, which is what I am now, essentially, I did some research looking at medication effects in humans and the humans that I studied were college students. These college students were part of a 2-week protocol. Using the technologies that I used in that protocol were mostly medical technologies: EKG machines, other kinds of technologies that only physicians use, but we also used computers to test their memory functions before and after they were given these different medications. So, we used some technology, but basically what I did was sit down and talk to these people.
Q: One of the primary focuses of LinkAge 2000 is to encourage international cooperation among students and teachers around the world who are interested in learning about aging. Are there a lot of opportunities in your profession for working internationally, cooperating with other scientists and researchers around the world?
A: Sure, as you know, the population of folks who are getting older is not just growing in this country, its growing around the world. In fact, in Latin America, the population of older folks in increasing much more rapidly than in the U.S. So, there are many opportunities to exchange information about this phenomenon, demographics, medical problems that affect the aging, there are many other researchers around the world looking at this issue.
Q: Are there any a lot of opportunities for minorities in this country who are interested in pursuing a career in aging?
A: I don’t know if its so much a career in aging, as it is a career in general. I didn’t start out, when I went to college, I had no idea what I was going to end up doing. I knew I was going into the health field, but I wasn’t really sure. And I certainly didn’t know that I was going to go into something related to aging. It had to do with my personality, I think. I always got along better with people who are either older than me or younger than me, I never got along well with people my own age, for some reason. When I did matriculate to medical school, my inclinations were in geriatrics or pediatrics. I just happened to go into geriatrics, I could have very easily gone into pediatrics. So, it’s hard to advise someone. I can’t imagine someone your age or younger wanting to do something in aging. I think it comes quite naturally when you talk to people older than yourself-- that’s an interest in aging, whether they’re 10 years or 20 years older than you. There’s certainly going to be more opportunities for young people to get to know someone older than they are because the older population is getting bigger. I think this idea that you’re doing, to enhance the communication between generations is probably a good thing because there is a generation gap-- people need to talk to each other and not let these... I know you asked me about minorities, but my response is really generic, it’s to everyone who’s interested in their own future. There are plenty of old people to talk to.
Q: What are some of the major policy and political issues that are involved in your work?
A: At this point, one of the big political issues, or big concerns, is genetics. As you may be aware, scientists are now able to identify, and look at people’s genes rather, and identify their susceptibility to future risks for disease. And certain diseases that we see in old age or in late life, like Alzheimer’s disease, certain cancers, can now be identified in people who are healthy, like yourself, people who are younger, under the age of 20, who don’t really think about these terrible kinds of diseases. Now, we are able to identify people at risk by identifying these susceptibility genes. And this has opened up a big ethical questions for scientists. Do we want to know this information? If we do want to know this information, what is it we want to get out of it? Certainly, we’d like to understand how to modify people’s risks. But just because you have a gene, doesn’t mean you have a 100% risk for developing a terrible disease in late life. But, in the course of your life, you're concerned as everyone would be about your chances for getting employment, your chances for getting health insurance or insurance for disability. These discrimination issues are now ethical concerns that researchers in the area of human genetics need to consider when they study young populations or asymptomatic populations. That’s a political issue because when you talk about discrimination, the only way to deal with that is by protecting a particular legal climate.
Q: A lot of the students who are listening to this interview probably have some preconceptions about what it is like to grow old and what old people are like. I’m sure when you started out in your profession, you had some of these same preconceptions. What can you tell some of the students listening to this interview about how your opinions about older adults have changed since you began this profession?
A: Well, I’ve gone from thinking that all old people were just feeble and frail to thinking that young people is knuckleheads, no just kidding. I think it’s interesting when you transition from being a young person to a middle aged person, to an old person. There was actually a survey by the Ronald McDonalds Foundation that was published recently that surveyed the attitudes of older people about young people and vice-versa. What’s interesting is that the generation gap is almost biologic. It is biologic, when people get older, there attitudes about youth change. I think the youth of this country are the source of a great deal of hope. I look to the youth as a source of inspiration. You guys rule the world, whether you believe it or not. The athletic ads, the Nike ads, Wall Street targets your group. So you rule the world in that regard. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to see how much more I have in common with the people who do have gray hair. I don’t see myself being so distant from them, I’ve started to relate to the older men and women that I see on the bus, when I take the bus to work, or that I see in the park. In some of these instances, I try to engage people. Older people seem to be easier to engage. My own attitude is we’re all going to grow old, if we’re lucky.
Q: One final question for you, Dr. Martinez, what words of advice would you have for young people to encourage them to enter into this field?
A: Once again, I think that this is something that, going into the field of aging as a field of study—I can’t imagine a young person thinking about that, but I think it’s admiral if you do. But I think what we need to look at is people in our own lives, our own families, filial responsibility that we have to one another. Those kinds of things should be the source of inspiration for future careers, whether its working with old people, young people, whatever. The fact that we sort of codify a field of aging, kind of makes this natural process somewhat artificial. The divisions between young and old aren’t all that different. We’re still human beings, we still hurt, we still have disappointments. We have happy moods, sad moods. I’m all for people talking to one another, breaking down barriers, shedding labels. So the distinction between old and young, I’d say just eliminate that. Look at people for who they are, regardless of what they look like or how much gray hair they have.

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