Department Chair Dr. Paul DeLaLuz, award winner Dr. Martin Williams, and Dr. Eddie Brown during the department’s Homecoming breakfast.
Dr. Martin G. Williams was honored as the 2014 Distinguished Alumnus for Lee University’s Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The award was presented at a department breakfast during Homecoming 2014 festivities.
“Williams is an outstanding representative of the Lee University experience,” said Dr. Eddie Brown, professor of chemistry at Lee. “It’s an experience purposefully executed that serves to integrate academic growth with Biblical faith so that one's daily life and vocation become an expression of God's love to our ‘neighbors’ and the physical world that we share with them.”
Dr. Williams currently serves as a career missionary with the Church of God. In partnership with the COG , Dr. Williams spearheaded the establishment of the Dyer Rural Hospital in the rural mountains of Northern Honduras. This hospital serves as the basis of a transferrable model of how to dovetail non-profit organizations and government-run medical facilities to improve health outcomes in the general population. Dr. Williams served as an administrator and practicing physician with Dyer Rural Hospital, in addition to serving as the director of the missions internship with the hospital. He also founded Healing Hands Global, which seeks to improve the community through hospital-based initiatives and an innovative, adaptive health care model.
For the past six years, Dr. Williams has hosted a Lee University study abroad program where students interested in health care can serve in a cross-cultural setting.
“The integrative experiences we seek for our students are much more powerful when students interact with an alum who has established an operational model,” said Dr. Brown.
Dr. Williams has had multiple works published in the scientific community, including contributing to both “Cell Biology and Metabolism: Development of Insulin Resistance in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes” and “Effect of Glucose Deprivation of GLUT 1 Expression in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes,” which can be found in The Journal of Biological Chemistry.
In addition to his published writings, Dr. Williams is proficient in repairing and modifying vehicles and equipment, a skill he uses to aid the Dyer Rural Hospital.
Dr. Williams is also an avid musician, playing both the bass guitar and drums, and serves the next generation of medical professionals by extending opportunities to intern at Dyer Rural Hospital.
Department Chair Dr. Paul DeLaLuz, award winner Dr. Martin Williams, and Dr. Eddie Brown during the department’s Homecoming breakfast.