{"id":104493,"date":"2021-04-20T08:41:36","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T13:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/?p=104493"},"modified":"2021-04-26T12:33:51","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T17:33:51","slug":"from-engineering-alumnus-to-surgeon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/from-engineering-alumnus-to-surgeon\/","title":{"rendered":"From Engineering Alumnus to Surgeon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Christopher Martin. Submitted photo<\/p><\/div>\n

How did a University of Mississippi civil engineering graduate become a physician on the front lines in the ongoing fight against COVID-19?<\/p>\n

The answer is one strategic decision at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngineering taught me how to think and solve problems,\u201d said Dr. Christopher Martin, a Natchez surgeon who has spent countless hours in the Merit Health Natchez ICU during the last year, treating pandemic patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it helped teach me skills to think and adapt on the fly. A degree where all the classes just required memorizing facts would not have prepared me in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Family Affair<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Natchez native, Martin comes from a family of engineers \u2013 a family tree that helped put him on his path to Ole Miss<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandfather was a civil engineer, and my mother and brother also graduated in civil engineering<\/a> at Ole Miss,\u201d he said. \u201cI originally chose engineering because I was always interested in math and science.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Christopher Martin shares an enjoyable moment with his wife, Lizzie, and children Alice, Robert and Frances. Submitted photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Upon entering the university, Martin found that the engineering school not only taught him how to think and learn, but it also taught him the value of collaboration with his professors and his peers. He is using all these skills as a surgeon.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften during an operation, there are surprises,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you only have the textbook memorized, you might not be able to adapt and work your way to the solution. It requires quick problem-solving skills in the operating room to be able to change the course of the operation, communicate with the staff to get the equipment or instruments that are needed, and get to the goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe that the problem-solving skills that are taught in engineering school translate well into medicine,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

A number of courses and professors, he said, helped him learn those skills throughout his time at Ole Miss.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite courses were probably structural design with Dr. (Ahmed) Al-Ostaz,\u201d Martin said. \u201cWhether it was our senior design project or spending afternoons at the school getting help with assignments, it showed the value of not just working alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Major Moves<\/strong><\/p>\n

After graduation, Martin didn\u2019t immediately enter medical school. Instead, he tried his hand at teaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people are actually more surprised that I taught high school history and algebra for a year between graduation and med school,\u201d Martin said. \u201cAfter I finished my studies at the University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Medicine, I went to Tulane University for my general surgery residency before returning home to Natchez in 2015.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once again, Martin found that the Ole Miss engineering school had prepared him to handle the unpredictable crisis brought on by a global pandemic.<\/p>\n

While treating surgical patients and critically ill patients is similar, Martin said that COVID-19 created a lot more patients to care for at once.<\/p>\n

He was recently featured in The Natchez Democrat<\/a> for his efforts to treat Mississippians battling COVID-19 and the level of care he provides to all patients in southwest Mississippi.<\/p>\n

Assistant Dean Marni Kendricks said Martin is a shining example of what students can learn and accomplish through an education at Ole Miss and the School of Engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cChristopher was truly one of the best students in my civil engineering class of 2004,\u201d she said. \u201cI’m so proud of my brilliant classmate and friend.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How did a University of Mississippi civil engineering graduate become a physician on the front lines in the ongoing fight against COVID-19? The answer is one strategic decision at a time. \u201cEngineering taught me how to think and solve problems,\u201d said Dr. Christopher Martin, a Natchez surgeon who has spent countless hours in the MeritRead the story …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1415,178],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom Engineering Alumnus to Surgeon - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/from-engineering-alumnus-to-surgeon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Engineering Alumnus to Surgeon - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How did a University of Mississippi civil engineering graduate become a physician on the front lines in the ongoing fight against COVID-19? The answer is one strategic decision at a time. \u201cEngineering taught me how to think and solve problems,\u201d said Dr. Christopher Martin, a Natchez surgeon who has spent countless hours in the MeritRead the story …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/from-engineering-alumnus-to-surgeon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-20T13:41:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-26T17:33:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Christopher-Martin-168x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/\",\"name\":\"Ole Miss News\",\"description\":\"The official source for University of Mississippi news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/from-engineering-alumnus-to-surgeon\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Christopher-Martin-168x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/from-engineering-alumnus-to-surgeon\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/from-engineering-alumnus-to-surgeon\/\",\"name\":\"From Engineering Alumnus to Surgeon - Ole Miss News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/from-engineering-alumnus-to-surgeon\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-20T13:41:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-26T17:33:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/6f4ed6d2875ea26cc820d0eb0568d652\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/from-engineering-alumnus-to-surgeon\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/6f4ed6d2875ea26cc820d0eb0568d652\",\"name\":\"esmith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47640a561d7e19d1e29d52a4797cff04?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"esmith\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104493"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104493"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104672,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104493\/revisions\/104672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}