AUSTIN, Texas – Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., executive director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health and associate vice president for diversity and community engagement at The University of Texas at Austin, has been elected to membership in the Philosophical Society of Texas. He now joins a membership roster that has included such luminaries as Sam Houston, Mirabeau B. Lamar, Steven Weinberg, Jack S. Blanton and former UT Austin president Larry Faulkner.
The Society was established in 1837 right after the founding of the Republic of Texas. Its purpose, according to a founding document, was “the collection and diffusion of knowledge.” The group’s by-laws limit membership to no more than 200 active members. The group meets annually at locations throughout Texas.
“In reading the history, one is struck by both the commitment to excellence of the Society’s founding members, and the ways in which the modern Society carries on in that tradition,” said Martinez. “I’m honored to be a member of this organization.”
Along with his position at the Hogg Foundation, Martinez is a clinical professor in the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin and an adjunct professor of psychiatry at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He holds a doctor’s degree in medicine from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University’s School of Public Health, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in business administration with a concentration in finance from The University of Texas at Austin.
The Hogg Foundation advances recovery and wellness in Texas by supporting mental health services, policy analysis, research and public education. The foundation was created in 1940 by the children of former Texas Gov. James S. Hogg and is part of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin.