MEET DOCTOR GEOFF MARTIN, HONORARY TREASURER AND EXECUTIVE MEMBER AT LARGE

Doctor Geof Martin, aged 54, was born in Melbourne, Australia.  He is married to Sorayya, also a family doctor and currently the Honorary Secretary of the Asia-Pacific Region of Wonca.   His interests outside medicine  are classical music, opera, wine, motor racing and carpentry.

Geoff is in a fairly old-fashioned family practice in the Adelaide suburbs.  He recently gave up obstetrics; otherwise it’s a comprehensive practice with four other partners.   He joined the practice in 1976.

Doctor Martin has held numerous leadership positions within his local college and national association.  He was an office-bearer in the Royal Australian College of General Practice (RACGP)  from 1978 to 1998 - initially as a
member of the South Australian (SA) Faculty Board, later Provost of the SA
Faculty; subsequently a member of the national Council of the RACGP; then
at various times Chairman of Council and Honorary Secretary of the national
RACGP.  He remains an Examiner in the FRACGP but has no involvement in the political organisational side of the College now.  He remains involved in the
General Practice Accreditation body established during his time on RACGP
Executive and still represents that body on the Alpha Accreditation Council
of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare.

Doctor Geoffrey Martin, Honorary Treasurer and
Executive Member At Large

Geoff’s association with Wonca began when he became a Direct Member about 15 years ago.  He became the RACGP representative to the Wonca Council in 1995 and was elected to Executive as a Member at Large in 1998.

Doctor Martin sees his contribution to Wonca over the next triennium in two main
areas.  First, he has been given the responsibility of the Honorary Treasurer at a time when the organisation has recently been incorporated and the Secretariat relocated to Singapore.  This offers both opportunities and challenges to work with the CEO to establish new financial management systems which will serve Wonca into the future, particularly in relation to devolving responsibilities to the
emerging Regions in ways which ensure both reasonable autonomy and
responsible overall financial management of the global organisation.

Secondly, Geoff chairs the new Website Development Taskforce, which he believes is one of the most exciting things Wonca has ever undertaken.  It can potentially offer great opportunities for Wonca to reach out to the family doctors of  the world in entirely new ways; facilitating exchanges of ideas, offering resources to family doctors where they are currently unavailable, and a whole smorgasbord of opportunities to fulfill Wonca’s mission in ways that have simply not been possible before.