Lester Martinez-Lopez, M.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Lester Martínez-López is the President of Martinez Medical Consulting, LLC, a firm that provides consulting services in the health care industry. Dr. Lester Martinez-Lopez served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs (2022-2024). In this role, he was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense and the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness for all Department of Defense health and force health protection policies and programs.
Previously, he was the Chief Medical Officer at Brandon Regional Hospital in Brandon, Florida. There he provided leadership in optimizing medical staff performance and participation in quality, efficiency, and patient safety initiatives for a 407-bed hospital. In 2006, he was the Senior Vice-President & Administrator of the Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital in Houston, Texas where he directed a 332 licensed-bed acute care teaching hospital.
In 2005, Dr. Martínez-López retired from the U.S. Army with the permanent rank of Major General as the first Hispanic to head the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick, Maryland. His responsibilities included directing the Army’s worldwide medical research, acquisition, and logistics program. He oversaw a vast research portfolio that included cancer, trauma, infectious diseases, biodefense, chemical defense, nutrition, environmental health, aviation medicine, and telemedicine research. In addition, he directed the premier national biological and chemical defense laboratories and research program and led the development of the National Biodefense Campus at Fort Detrick, MD. Prior to these duties he was the Commanding General of the Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine at Edgewood, Maryland. In this assignment he directed a worldwide public health organization, responsible for preventive medicine, health promotion and wellness, global medical surveillance, occupational and environmental health, and health risk communication. During his previous military career, he was the commander of three distinct hospitals, he oversaw the military health support during Hurricane Mitch in Central America and served as the Chief Medical Officer of the United Nation’s Mission in Haiti.
Dr. Martínez-López was born in Puerto Rico. In 1978, he graduated from the School of Medicine in the University of Puerto Rico and later on completed a master’s in public health from Johns Hopkins University. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Family Practice and the American Board of Preventive Medicine.