Overview

Joseph B. Martin traces his climb from a Mennonite farm in the village of Duchess, Alberta to Dean of Harvard Medical School in his memoir, Alfalfa to Ivy. Readers are rewarded with an intimate perspective on academic politics and health care in Canada and the U.S. that Martin is perfectly poised to critique. And it is the human story of Martin's journey from humble origins to worldly esteem that makes Alfalfa to Ivy a compelling narrative for non-specialists as well as academics and professionals. Foreword by David Hubel. Afterword by Ed Benz.

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9781551957005

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[Alfalfa to Ivy] is remarkable for its detail and precision. He tells of scores of people he worked with, emphasizing what each brought to the profession. He elaborated on medical mysteries he worked on. He described the complicated political issues that faced him as an administer. His report will be useful for historians as well as medical administrators. This is not a chatty memoir interlaced with cheap shots. It is a work of scholarship and leadership. - J. Daniel Hess October 2011 The memoir of one of the great minds in the world of academic medicine, Joseph B. Martin, has been released by The University of Alberta Press. Alfalfa to Ivy: Memoir of a Harvard Medical School Dean (www.alfalfatoivy.com), is a beautifully written, intricately researched memoir that details Dr. Martin's journey from rural origins to one of the most highly regarded and influential voices of his generation as Dean of Medicine and Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco Medical School and later as Dean of Harvard Medical School. As Dean at Harvard, Martin led the efforts to redesign the entire medical school curriculum. - Brookline Patch, November 2011 Dr. Joseph Martin is one of the most distinguished alumni of the University of Alberta, '62 MD. His leadership and accomplishments are remarkable... His openness, transparency, honesty, integrity and warmth served him well to achieve what others failed to recognize or thought not possible. He had an uncanny ability to recognize unique opportunities and to maximize the power of effective collaboration... However, his lasting effect will be the brilliance of his recognition of the new opportunities presented by incredible advances in molecular biology, systems biology, genetics, bioinformatics, etc., and the power of spawning true collaborations between these multiple disciplines... [A] must-read for leaders in academia dealing with complex institutional relationships so prominent in health care today. I found the book a pleasure to read. My only regret is that I didn't have the opportunity to read it before embarking on my deanship. D. Lorne Tyrrell, Dean Emeritus, University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Newsletter, 2012, [Full review found at http://bit.ly/yusxJ0] Martins deanship has been heralded for unifying a fragmented HMS, improving communication, encouraging collaboration, and diversifying departments, all while leading the School under three very different Harvard presidencies... Martin stepped down in 2007, after a decadelong tenure highlighted by Martin and his team successfully locating the gene for Huntingtons disease, an extraordinary moment for him. Sarah Sweeney, Harvard Gazette, December 15, 2011 Joseph B. Martin has written a stimulating memoir following a fifty-year career as a major medical researcher and top-flight medical administrator. I am most attracted to his sense of family and identity, his ability to make choices that in the long run gave him the authority so necessary for leadership John A. Lapp, The Mennonite Quarterly Review, Fall 2012

[Alfalfa to Ivy] is remarkable for its detail and precision. He tells of scores of people he worked with, emphasizing what each brought to the profession. He elaborated on medical mysteries he worked on. He described the complicated political issues that faced him as an administer. His report will be useful for historians as well as medical administrators. This is not a chatty memoir interlaced with cheap shots. It is a work of scholarship and leadership. - J. Daniel Hess October 2011 The memoir of one of the great minds in the world of academic medicine, Joseph B. Martin, has been released by The University of Alberta Press. Alfalfa to Ivy: Memoir of a Harvard Medical School Dean (www.alfalfatoivy.com), is a beautifully written, intricately researched memoir that details Dr. Martin's journey from rural origins to one of the most highly regarded and influential voices of his generation as Dean of Medicine and Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco Medical School and later as Dean of Harvard Medical School. As Dean at Harvard, Martin led the efforts to redesign the entire medical school curriculum. - Brookline Patch, November 2011 Dr. Joseph Martin is one of the most distinguished alumni of the University of Alberta, '62 MD. His leadership and accomplishments are remarkable... His openness, transparency, honesty, integrity and warmth served him well to achieve what others failed to recognize or thought not possible. He had an uncanny ability to recognize unique opportunities and to maximize the power of effective collaboration... However, his lasting effect will be the brilliance of his recognition of the new opportunities presented by incredible advances in molecular biology, systems biology, genetics, bioinformatics, etc., and the power of spawning true collaborations between these multiple disciplines... [A] must-read for leaders in academia dealing with complex institutional relationships so prominent in health care today. I found the book a pleasure to read. My only regret is that I didn't have the opportunity to read it before embarking on my deanship. D. Lorne Tyrrell, Dean Emeritus, University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Newsletter, 2012, [Full review found at http://bit.ly/yusxJ0] Martins deanship has been heralded for unifying a fragmented HMS, improving communication, encouraging collaboration, and diversifying departments, all while leading the School under three very different Harvard presidencies... Martin stepped down in 2007, after a decadelong tenure highlighted by Martin and his team successfully locating the gene for Huntingtons disease, an extraordinary moment for him. Sarah Sweeney, Harvard Gazette, December 15, 2011 Joseph B. Martin has written a stimulating memoir following a fifty-year career as a major medical researcher and top-flight medical administrator. I am most attracted to his sense of family and identity, his ability to make choices that in the long run gave him the authority so necessary for leadership John A. Lapp, The Mennonite Quarterly Review, Fall 2012 Joseph B. Martin describes his life from growing up on a farm in Canada to dean of Harvard Medical School. Along the way, readers are provided with in-depth information about his family history, health care, the education system and its politics, and the interesting stories that people tell about their life. Throughout the book, he provides photos for the reader so that he or she may have a visual perspective and understanding of his life story. - Angela Green, University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries 2012, Outstanding Title

[Alfalfa to Ivy] is remarkable for its detail and precision. He tells of scores of people he worked with, emphasizing what each brought to the profession. He elaborated on medical mysteries he worked on. He described the complicated political issues that faced him as an administer. His report will be useful for historians as well as medical administrators. This is not a chatty memoir interlaced with cheap shots. It is a work of scholarship and leadership. - J. Daniel Hess October 2011 The memoir of one of the great minds in the world of academic medicine, Joseph B. Martin, has been released by The University of Alberta Press. Alfalfa to Ivy: Memoir of a Harvard Medical School Dean (www.alfalfatoivy.com), is a beautifully written, intricately researched memoir that details Dr. Martin's journey from rural origins to one of the most highly regarded and influential voices of his generation as Dean of Medicine and Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco Medical School and later as Dean of Harvard Medical School. As Dean at Harvard, Martin led the efforts to redesign the entire medical school curriculum. - Brookline Patch, November 2011 Dr. Joseph Martin is one of the most distinguished alumni of the University of Alberta, '62 MD. His leadership and accomplishments are remarkable... His openness, transparency, honesty, integrity and warmth served him well to achieve what others failed to recognize or thought not possible. He had an uncanny ability to recognize unique opportunities and to maximize the power of effective collaboration... However, his lasting effect will be the brilliance of his recognition of the new opportunities presented by incredible advances in molecular biology, systems biology, genetics, bioinformatics, etc., and the power of spawning true collaborations between these multiple disciplines... [A] must-read for leaders in academia dealing with complex institutional relationships so prominent in health care today. I found the book a pleasure to read. My only regret is that I didn't have the opportunity to read it before embarking on my deanship. D. Lorne Tyrrell, Dean Emeritus, University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Newsletter, 2012, [Full review found at http://bit.ly/yusxJ0] Martins deanship has been heralded for unifying a fragmented HMS, improving communication, encouraging collaboration, and diversifying departments, all while leading the School under three very different Harvard presidencies... Martin stepped down in 2007, after a decadelong tenure highlighted by Martin and his team successfully locating the gene for Huntingtons disease, an extraordinary moment for him. Sarah Sweeney, Harvard Gazette, December 15, 2011

Author Information

Joseph B. Martin grew up near the village of Duchess, Alberta. He received his MD from the University of Alberta in 1962. He is currently the Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. Previous to that, he served for ten years as the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University before stepping down in 2007.

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