Dr. Martha A. Medrano was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, one of eight children. She obtained her undergraduate degree in 1977 from the University of Texas at El Paso where she graduated with high honors. Dr Medrano attended the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) Medical School, graduating in 1981. She entered Pediatric Internship at UTHSCSA in 1981 and completed a General Psychiatry Residency and Child Psychiatry Fellowship at UTHSCSA in 1985. Since 1986, Dr Medrano has served on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry, Division of Child Psychiatry and Alcohol and Drug Addiction. Dr Medrano describes herself as a community psychiatrist spending most of her career involved in community programs and activities. Because if her interest in health promotion and prevention, she returned to school and obtained a Masters in Public Health in 1996 from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, while continuing full-time faculty status.

Dr. Medrano is currently the Director of the Medical Hispanic Center of Excellence at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She is also the South Central Regional Director for Redes En Acción, a multi-site grant funded by the National Cancer Institute, targeting cancer awareness, training and research within Hispanic communities. She also serves on the Minority Women Panel of Experts for the National Office on Women's Health, the National Advisory Board for the National Hispanic Medical Association and the UTHSCSA representative for the National Association of Hispanic Serving Health Profession Schools. Her research area of interest is the effect of childhood trauma on women drug addicts. She recently served as guest editor for a special issue of women, drugs and trauma.

Dr Medrano has an interest in teaching medical students, and other health professions students about differences in cultural health beliefs. She has assisted in the developed of cultural competence teaching materials, case-vignettes and case simulation. Dr. Medrano has partnered with the Department of Family Medicine to create Medical Spanish course for second year medical students and a Spanish-Speaking Only Patient rotation for senior students.

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