On March 5, 2020, Dr. Gladys Martin was honored by the Cameroon Medical Women Association (CMWA) and the Minister of the Promotion of Women and the Family.
Upon hearing of the death of Dr. Martin, CMWA has created the Gladys Ejomi Martin Prize in her honor to be awarded to pioneering women in the medical field in Cameroon.

Dr Gladys Ejomi Martin was born on June 26, 1935 in Kake, Cameroon. She was the third daughter of Dr. and Mrs. E.K Martin. She was fondly known as Sissy Kake to her siblings and close friends and Auntie Doctor to her nieces and nephews. 

EDUCATION
She attended primary school in Buea and Victoria (now Limbe) excelling in her primary education and completing her studies a year in advance of her classmates. She went on to St Anne’s School in Ibadan, Nigeria for her secondary education. 
In Ibadan, she completed her post secondary education at Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology. She then went on to obtain her M.B.B.S degrees  (London) from University College and University College Hospital in Ibadan in 1962. Dr Gladys Martin was the first Cameroonian female physician. 
She completed her internship and residency in Pathology and Rheumatology in the United Kingdom.  She received a Diploma in Child Health and a certificate in Family Planning in 1966 from the Conjoint Board of England and Wales. 

PROFESSIONAL LIFE

She was accepted into the Pediatrics residency program at the University of Dalhousie in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1968 and board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in 1970.  She completed an M.P.H. at Harvard University in 1971. 

She briefly worked at the Health Department in NYC, USA in 1971 prior to returning to Cameroon at the end of that year.

On her return home, Dr. Martin worked at the CDC (Cameroon Development Corporation) taking care of employees and their families in various locations in Bota, Ekona and Tiko. In 1973, she was recruited as a staff pediatrician and public health physician at the University Health Center for Health Sciences (CUSS) in Yaounde. CUSS was the first medical institution in Cameroon. While there, she was responsible for running the community health program at Mvolye, a small town located just outside Yaounde.  At the clinic, free healthcare, but most importantly, preventative care was delivered to expecting mothers and their children.  This was also the platform she used to introduce nutrition workshops in that community.

In 1980, she left CUSS to head the Center for Nutrition Research at the Institute for Medical Research and the Study of Medicinal Plants, which was part of the Ministry of Scientific and Technical Research in Cameroon.
From 1986-1994, she worked at UNICEF as the Regional Adviser in Primary Health Care in various African regions moving to Madagascar, Kenya and eventually Ivory Coast.  
Dr Martin retired in 1995 and returned to Cameroon.

RETIREMENT
In retirement, she devoted her time to her family and close friends. She was known for showing up when a family member was in need.
She enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren in the US and attending their school activities.  

Dr. Martin loved astronomy. She would often give tutorials of the stars and the constellations if you found her gazing up at the sky at night.

She took over the running of Carl Steane Memorial Primary School, which was founded by her mother Mrs. Hannah Nene Martin. She worked on expanding the library and computer lab. She often talked about starting a program to help developmentally challenged children.

She loved gardening, especially planting flowers. She told me a story of when she and some friends got into trouble in school at St Anne’s. They were caught eating fruits they picked from a tree. She suggested to the principal that instead of letting her attend the upcoming school dance, she would weed her garden as punishment!! The principal agreed, but eventually came to realize that it was not quite the punishment she had in mind. From then on, the principal let Gladys “work” in the garden whenever she wanted.

She had a keen interest in technology and was known to carry around 2-3 phones, an Ipad and a laptop. She was always creating cards from pictures of flowers or nature that she took.  She single handedly created a booklet on the history of PNEU in Yaounde, a school founded by several parents including Dr. Martin. 

My Mum was loving, kind and giving. Despite all her many accomplishments, she remained humble.  She always put God first, then everybody else, before herself. She was tireless in her endeavors.

She leaves behind three sisters and a brother, two daughters, three granddaughters and many cousins, nieces, nephews and their children. She had many “adopted” children and grandchildren she cherished.

(Dr. Ruth Ekangaki, July 2020)