Dr. Doug Martin is the first recipient of the B.F. Hoerlein Memorial Endowed Faculty Research Award. A leader in the field of comparative neuropathology and molecular medicine, Dr. Martin's work focuses on feline gangliosidosis, an inherited neurologic disease, as an animal model for Tay-Sachs disease of humans. Using the feline model, Dr. Martin and his colleagues at the Scott-Ritchey Research Center have produced convincing evidence of the efficacy of gene therapy against GM2 gangliosidosis. An alumnus of Auburn University, Dr. Martin earned his Ph.D. in biomedical sciences in 1999. Following postdoctoral training in the Scott-Ritchey Research Center, he was appointed Assistant Research Professor in 2004. He joined the Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology as an Associate Professor in 2009. He holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Pathobiology. The family and friends of the late Dr. Benjamin F. Hoerlein, a College of Veterinary Medicine faculty member and first director of the Scott-Ritchey Research Center, established the Hoerlein Award. Its purpose is to recognize outstanding, innovative, and important research and discovery performed at the college.