After the study of pharmacy Martin earned his PhD in pharmacology from the Heinrich-Heine University in Dusseldorf in 1988. He currently holds the Chair of Experimental Medicine & Integrative Biology, a joint MRC Strategic Appointment between the Warwick Medical School and the Warwick Systems Biology Center. Before joining the University of Warwick, he was a Professor of Medicine, Biochemistry and Pharmacology at Boston University and a Professor of Molecular & Cellular Physiology at the LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, USA, following research positions in both academia (University College London, Universities of Cologne and Dusseldorf) and industry (Director of Pharmacology, Schwarz Pharma) in Europe.

Martin has a long-standing interest in analytical chemistry, cardiovascular pharmacology, drug metabolism, disease mechanisms, and the chemical biology of nitric oxide (NO), and has received numerous awards/honors in recognition of his research achievements in these areas. His more recent interests focus on the physiological significance of nitros(yl)ation reactions and the role of NO storage forms in blood and tissues; biomarkers of cardiovascular disease and adaptation to hypoxia; hypoxic signalling and altitude physiology; regulation of mitochondrial function and redox signalling; and systems-based approaches to assess the role of nitrite, nitrate and other NO-related products in vivo. Work in his laboratory is both hypothesis- and curiosity-driven and includes basic as well as translational research projects in all of the above areas.