Consultant Clinical Scientist
Honorary Senior Lecturer
Martin is responsible for providing and developing biochemical diagnostic assays and protocols, mainly in the field of vitamin K and its antagonists, for the Centre for Haemostasis and Thrombosis. He has a large responsibility in translational research projects, income generation and co-ordinating clinical trials.
After gaining a BSc from Liverpool University, Martin completed a PhD at Guy’s Hospital in 1974. As a Clinical Biochemist in the Department of Haematology he was responsible for setting up a new Vitamin K Laboratory which was the first in the world to measure K vitamins in tissues and blood. Martin was awarded continuous MRC funding up to 1986 to study health and diagnostic aspects of vitamin K, including oral anticoagulation. In 1994 he transferred to the Centre for Haemostasis & Thrombosis, St Thomas, where the laboratory expanded becoming a leading centre in the field for diagnostics, research, and clinical trial work for both government and commercial sectors.
Martin’s achievements are based on long-standing expertise in analytical biochemistry, particularly chromatography, electrophoresis and lately mass spectrometry. Besides his major interest in the role of vitamin K and Gla-proteins, he has expertise in haemostasis, lipid biochemistry, fat-soluble vitamins, drug metabolism and nutrition. In the latter area he was instrumental in establishing the UK national database for the vitamin K content of foods. Recent funding includes commissions from the Food Standards Agency to study the roles of vitamin K and D in bone health and he is currently co-investigator on an NIH grant with Tuft’s University, USA. Martin has published over 100 peer-reviewed full papers, reviews, expert reports, and book-chapters and edited a book. Since 1988, Martin has served on several national and international Expert Committees and Working Groups including those convened by the Department of Health, Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN, WHO and UK MHRA. He has successfully supervised and/or examined several internal and external PhD students.
