It's been a bunch of years now. But I remember my first impressions of the guy in the crisp dark suit, white shirt and tie. He was sitting on a nearby chair, waiting for a trade-show presentation on data standards to begin. For all the world, he looked like a drug rep without his sample case.
We had a chance to talk before the scheduled speaker began, and that's when I first met this talented physician, who, in fact, was then employed by Pfizer—not in sales, but rather as the "standards guy."
There were two other things that made him memorable, however.
One, of course, was his name, Dr. Ross Martin. I still think of the TV show "The Wild Wild West" and actor Ross Martin's character, Artemus Gordon, whenever Dr. Martin's name comes up.
The other memorable thing for me about meeting Ross that day was his sense of irony.
I can't recall his exact words, of course, but it was something to the effect of, "I can’t believe I went to medical school and yet here I am, waist-deep in the weeds of healthcare data standards development."
He wasn’t disparaging. He said he knew that it was important work. I gathered what Ross meant was the strange part of it all was finding himself as the one doing it.
But strangeness seems to follow Dr. Martin like the dust cloud over Pig-Pen's head. So although he now works a day job as a specialist leader for strategy and operations in federal health for Deloitte Consulting, in the wider healthcare industry, he's even better known as the producer of a series of pleasingly odd songs and music videos, mixing catchy tunes, goofy sight gags, quirky lyrics and—improbably—health information technology.
If there is a Weird Al Yankovic of healthcare geekdom, it would be Dr. Martin.
A case in point: He is the founder of the American College of Medical Informatimusicology. His IT oeuvre includes, "The Legend of Bob the DERF," "The Patient is Waiting" and "HITECH: An Interoperetta in Three Acts."
If you don't know his work already, you're in for a treat.
His latest offering is another music video, "The Meaningful Yoose Rap."
It's apparent that Martin still believes he’s doing important work promoting the use of health IT. Check out the video. Who can say he isn’t?
Send us a letter
Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.
