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Martinez Hewlett, Ph.D., O.P.L.
Molecular Virologist
Novelist
Philosopher
My career path at this point looks something like the following:
My academic training started at the University of Southern California ("Fight On!") where I majored in Chemistry, graduating in 1964. I worked for 5 years as a research biochemist at the V.A. Hospital in Sepulveda, California. At that point I returned to academia, entering graduate school at the University of Arizona where I majored in Biochemistry. I received my Ph.D. in 1973. I then became a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. David Baltimore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., where I specialized in the molecular biology of first poliovirus and then the emerging family of bunyaviruses. In 1976 I was offered a faculty position here at the University of Arizona and I have been here ever since. I became an emeritus professor in January 2003. I now live in Taos, New Mexico, where I write and consult, as well as keep involved in teaching to some extent.
My specialty has been the molecular biology of the family Bunyaviridae, with special emphasis on the members of the California serogroup viruses, notably LaCrosse and snowshoe hare viruses.
A few years ago, for reasons of changing interest and health, I decided to close my research laboratory and concentrate my efforts on teaching and on creative writing, something I have been doing all along. As a result , I have published one novel (Sangre de Cristo: A Novel of Science and Faith) and I'm working on a second. I have also enjoyed a fruitful artistic collaboration with my wife Gail (see Art and Science).
During this same period I have become increasingly interested in the philosophical aspects of science. To that end I was an active participant in the St. Albert the Great Forum on Theology and the Sciences, held at the University of Arizona Newman Center. I am now actively involved in the area of Philosophy of Science. My interest in the spiritual aspects of existence has led me to become a lay member of the Dominicans. Thus, the "OPL" letters after my name. I am currently an Adjunct Professor at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. In addition, I am a member of LENS, a diverse group of futurists.
I love the outdoors and here in Taos, I find time for snow skiing, fly fishing, and hiking.