Dr. Kevin Martin, a South Puget Sound family physician, has begun his one-year term as president-elect of the Washington Academy of Family Physicians (WAFP).

Martin, MD, assumed the role on May 11 at the WAFP Annual Scientific Assembly in Cle Elum.

During his year as president-elect, Martin will work with the board of directors, and automatically becomes WAFP president at the close of the organization’s next annual meeting in 2013.

Martin has a special passion for family medicine and values the primary care relationship between physician and patient.

“I love the variety and the consistency of family medicine because I get the opportunity to care for people across their life span,” he said. “I see young couples as they become families and their grandparents as they look back on their legacy. The consistency is in these relationships – I have taken care of five generations in one family and seen some of my patients for most of their lives. I went into family medicine because I needed that balance in my life.”

As an extension of his passion, Martin has been a leader and active member of the WAFP since 1998. He has served on a number of WAFP committees, including the Practice Transformation Committee, the Information Technology Committee, the Commission on Health Care Services, and the Committee on Child and School Health.

Active also in the American Academy of Family Physicians, Martin served a four-year term on the Academy’s Commission on Quality and Practice in 2007-2011.

Martin is a primary care practitioner at Sound Family Medicine in Bonney Lake. He joined the practice in 2010. He previously worked at Evergreen Enumclaw Health and Rehabilitation Center, Auburn Family Medical Center, the North Auburn Health and Rehabilitation Center, and was medical director for Beverly of Federal Way, a long-term care facility.

Martin grew up in California, and achieved his bachelor of arts in psychology from University of California at Davis. He earned his medical degree at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland in 1996, and completed his residency at the University Hospitals of Cleveland/Mt. Sinai Medical Center in 1998.