Julian A. Martinez, M.D., Ph.D., FACMG

Faculty Member

Associate Professor
Department of Human Genetics
David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles

Personal Statement

Julian A. Martinez is a medical geneticist and developmental biologist who has served at the UCLA School of Medicine since he joined the Department of Human Genetics in 2007. Dr. Martinez earned his B.S. in Biology and Spanish Literature at Yale University and pursued his medical training at Yale School of Medicine. He went on to train as a Pediatrician at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA. Dr. Martinez was Chief Resident of the UCLA Intercampus Medical Genetics Program, where he trained as and currently serves as a board-certified Medical Geneticist. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Utpal Banerjee at UCLA, where he worked on genetic approaches to stem progenitor function in Drosophila. Dr. Martinez is a recipient of the Pediatrics Department Outstanding Research Award, as well as the David W. Smith Pediatric Trainee Research Award of the Western Society for Pediatric Research, among other honors. Dr. Martinez is a member of the Division of Medical Genetics, where he has maintained a clinical interest in genetic syndromes that lead to overgrowth, vascular malformations, and cancer predisposition. As an Associate Professor with tenure at the University of California Los Angeles, his laboratory research focuses on novel growth regulatory pathways in progenitor and stem cell maintenance and the study of human growth disorders with cancer predisposition. His approach utilizes model organisms and rare human genetic disorders to identify new genes and characterize signaling pathways regulating tissue growth, with a translational focus on identifying the genetic basis of rare genetic syndromes that predispose to cancer and neurodevelopmental phenotypes. His laboratory has described novel syndromes, extended the phenotypic findings for established ones, and identified their genetic basis. Using next generation sequencing technologies and modeling of human disease-associated genetic variants in Drosophila, cancer cell lines and human neural stem cells, he dissects the mechanistic basis for these genetic disorders. Dr Martinez is one of the Principal Investigators of the Undiagnosed Diseases Network site at UCLA, Co-Director of the California Center for Rare Diseases, Director of the T32 Medical Genetics Training Program, and Co-Director of the Pediatric Cancer Predisposition Program.