Commanding Officer

Captain Nicholas J. Martin, USN

Commanding Officer

U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No.2
Asia

Captain Martin entered the military as a Cavalry Scout in the Nebraska Army National Guard in 1998 and completed undergraduate studies at Doane College in Crete, NE with a Bachelor of Science in 2000. In December of 2003, he completed his Master of Science in Environmental Science and Health in the Navy’s Health Services Collegiate Program and was commissioned as a Lieutenant Junior Grade in the U.S. Navy.
He completed tours at Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River (2004-2006) and Naval Hospital Lemoore (2006-2008) where he managed personnel and programs in industrial hygiene, preventive medicine, and occupational medicine. Following a deployment to the Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa in Djibouti in 2007, he began duty under instruction at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD, completing a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences in 2013.
Captain Martin completed research assignments as the Deputy, Viral and Rickettsial Diseases Department at the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) in Silver Spring, MD (2011-2014), as the Science Director at NMRC-Asia in Singapore (2014-2017) where he oversaw the Navy medical research portfolio for Southeast Asia,  and at the U.S. Army's Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Science in Bangkok, Thailand (2017-2020) where he coordinated research activities between Army and Navy institutes in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility.
From 2020 to 2022, Captain Martin was the Deputy Director of Public Health and Safety (M44) at the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) where he coordinated COVID-19 vaccine distribution for the Department of the Navy and BUMED’s Red Hill Crisis Action Team. He was also the Environmental Health Officer Specialty Leader (2020-2022), leading a community of 109 public health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From 2022 to 2024, Captain Martin served as the Executive Officer for Naval Medical Research Unit EURAFCENT in Sigonella, Italy. On 26 July 2024, he assumed duties as the Commanding Officer for Naval Medical Research Unit INDO PACIFIC in Singapore.
Captain Martin has authored works on military environmental exposure assessment and understanding the distribution, burden and control of drug-resistant malaria in Southeast Asia. He is a registered Environmental Health Specialist with the National Environmental Health Association. His personal awards include Meritorious Service Medal (3 awards), Joint Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (3 awards), Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, Nebraska Army National Guard Individual Achievement Medal (2 awards) [not worn], Nevada Army National Guard Commendation Medal [not worn] and was awarded the Order of Military Medical Merit.