was born in Yauco, Puerto Rico. A physician-scientist, he is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (EEUU) and a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and serves as the University of Louisville’s Executive Vice-President of Research. From 1978 to 1989 he was a film critic for the English journal Caribbean Business, and for the Spanish dailies El Reportero, y El Mundo. He was a member of the University of Puerto Rico Press and Editorial Board from 1984-89. From 2001-2005 he presided over the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, the body that by law establishes and helps implement the cultural policy for Puerto Rico and operates 18 museums, 39 historic homes and edifices, and 78 municipal cultural centers around the island. As the Board’s president, Martínez-Maldonado also presided over the Board of Trustees of Puerto Rico’s Performing Arts Center that includes the Concert Hall-Opera House, the Marqués and the Marichal Theaters, and is the main venue for classical music, theater and classical popular music in Puerto Rico. In addition he served on the Board of the Corporation for Musical Arts, which runs the prestigious yearly Casals Festival. His poems and essays have appeard in Yunque, Revista de la Universidad de Puerto Rico (Juan Ramón Jiménez, Editor), Cariban (José Luis Vega, Editor) Mairena (Manuel de la Puebla, Editor) Pharos (Robert Glazer, Editor; Edwrad Harris, Editor) Linden Lane (Heberto Padilla, Editor), y la Revista del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (Marta Aponte Alsina, Editora), Cupey (Olga Nolla, founder). His poems and novel have also appeared in anthologies in Puerto Rico and abroad. He was received (1955), the José Gautier Benítez poetry award from the General Studies Faculty of the University of Puerto Rico, and twice received honorary mention for his poetry from the Ateneo de Puerto Rico. Martínez Maldonado books of poetry include: La Voz Sostenida (Mairena), 1984; Palm Beach Blues (Editorial Cultural), 1985; Por Amor al Arte (Playor), 1989; Hotel María, 1999, a finalist of the Gastón Baquero Award of Verbum Editorial, Madrid. His most recent poetry book is Novela de Mediodía, 2003 (Editorial Cultural) co-published by Verbum in Madrid. His novel, Isla Verde (the Blue Chevy) (Verbum), apeared in 1999. He is working on two poetry collections: Con Cierto Misterio y Principio de la Incertidumbre, and the novel, Dragon Rapide.