





































 V37 N3 / 2022 

©2022 American Medical Writers Association. All rights reserved.  
ISSN 2163-5315

AMWAJournal.org     28

ABSTRACT
For much of its history, the American Medical Writers 

Association (AMWA) has bestowed awards in honor of cer-

tain members: Harold Swanberg, MD, the founder of the 

Association; Walter Alvarez, MD, in retirement, a nationally 

syndicated health columnist; Eric Martin, PhD, a pharma-

cist instrumental in professionalizing regulatory writing; 

and John McGovern, MD, a philanthropist who supported 

initiatives in biomedical communication. However, the 

details of the lives of these men are unknown to most 

AMWA members. Accordingly, this biography describes the 

life and accomplishments of Eric Martin, to recognize his 

achievements and to contribute to the history of the profes-

sion and of the Association. 

The Eric W. Martin Award for Excellence in Medical Writing 

was awarded by AMWA from 2007 to 2015. However, we 

know more about those receiving 

the award than we do about the man 

in whose honor the award is given. 

In part, this lack of information may 

be attributed to Eric himself. He has 

been described as a quiet but pleas-

ant man who seldom talked about 

himself; the sort of person who 

would learn more about you than 

you would about him in casual con-

versation. (Lilian Sablack telephone 

call, June 27, 2020.) We know little 

about his personal life and not much more about his profes-

sional life, but there is something to tell.

PERSONAL LIFE
Eric Wentworth Martin, PhC (pharmaceutical chemist), 

BsC (bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical chemistry), MS, 

PhD, was born on December 6, 1912, in Kamloops, British 

Columbia, Canada, to Wentworth Banger Martin (1888-

1945) and Ida Magdalen (1886-1984).1 He graduated from 

high school in 1928, eventually entered an apprenticeship 

in pharmacy, and became a qualified pharmacy assistant in 

1934. At some point, he became a registered pharmacist in 

both the United States and Canada.1 

 We know even less about his wife, Ruth D. Martin, 

DSc, who collaborated with him on several publications. 

According to Lilian Sablack, AMWA’s Executive Director 

from 1973 to 2001, who knew Eric for some time, he rarely 

talked about himself. Her recollection of him was that he had 

no children and that Ruth may have been his second wife.

PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Much of the information on Eric’s professional life comes 

from the “about-the-author” sections of his many pub-

lications. At some point in his career, he was Director of 

Communications for Lederle Laboratories in New Pearl, 

New York, and for several years, he was also associate pro-

fessor of medical communication at Columbia University 

College of Pharmacy.2 Between 1949 and 1952, he was 

an Associate Director of LaWall and Harrison Research 

Laboratories (now SGS Harrison Research Laboratories),  

a company that still provides consumer product testing  

services.3 During this same period, he was assistant profes-

sor of biochemistry at Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. 

(The college eventually changed its name to the University 

of the Sciences. It offered the only master’s degree program 

in medical writing in the country4 until it was absorbed by  

St. John’s University earlier this year.)

 From 1956 to 1959, he was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal 

of the American Pharmacists Association, Practical  

Pharmacy Edition,5,6 Executive Director of Spectrum at 

Pfizer, may have been professor of physical pharmacy at 

Purdue University, and later became Director of Professional 

Communications at the Food and Drug Administration. 

He was a Fellow of the American Association for the 

Advancement of Science and of the International Academy 

of Law and Science. He was also a Fellow of AMWA, the first 

president of the Association who was not a medical doctor, 

and the author of AMWA’s first Code of Ethics, in 1978.2

Tom Lang / Principal, Tom Lang Communications and Training International, Kirkland, WA

Eric Wentworth Martin – Pharmacist, Researcher, Author

BIOGRAPHY

Figure 1. Eric Wentworth  
Martin, PhC, BsC, Ms,  
PhD (1912-?)

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AMWAJournal.org     29Eric Wentworth Martin – Pharmacist, Researcher, Author

But there’s more...

 From 1942 until 1953, Eric served in the US Army 

Medical Corps and Chemical Warfare Service, which was 

part of the Office of Strategic Services (the OSS; forerun-

ner of the Central Intelligence Agency). At the end of this 

period, he became a senior research biochemist at the 

Institute for Cooperative Research at the University of 

Pennsylvania.7 The Institute conducted secret research into 

chemical and biological warfare until its activities came to 

light during the Vietnam War in 1965.8 The Institute was 

closed in 1968.9 (A note for balance: during World War 2, 

George W. Merck, President of Merck & Company pharma-

ceuticals from 1925 to 1950, led the War Research Service 

that was in charge of the US biological weapons program. 

Merck was awarded the Medal for Merit for his contribution 

to the war effort.10) 

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Almost all references to Eric are from books he wrote or 

edited. They all appear to be major texts that went through 

several editions.

• Husa's Pharmaceutical Dispensing. Martin EW, ed. 

Mack; 1959. He edited the first 7 editions of this book.  

• Remington's Pharmaceutical Science. Martin EW, ed. 

13th ed. Mack; 1965. In 100 chapters (1,616 pages) by 

separate authors, the book covers the scientific, pro-

fessional, and economic aspects of pharmacy.

• Martin, EW. Techniques of Medication: A Manual 

on the Administration of Drug Products. Alexander 

SF, Hassan, WE Jr, Sherman BS, eds. 1st ed. J. B. 

Lippincott; 1969. Eric’s wife, Ruth D. Martin, was an 

associated editor of this book.

• Martin, EW. Hazards of Medication: A Manual on Drug 

Interactions, Incompatibilities, Contraindications, 

Interactions, and Adverse Events. J. B. Lippincott; 1978. 

The book cites 3,000 references and contains a 400-

page table of drug interactions for more than 600 of 

the most widely used drugs. (The number of drugs 

increased to 1,000 in later editions.) Another 50-page 

table details how many drugs interfere with the results 

of laboratory tests.

• Martin EW. Drug Interactions Index 1978/79. 

Lippincott; 1978.

THE DRUG THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Thalidomide was an over-the-counter sedative widely 

used in Europe to treat anxiety, sleeplessness, and morn-

ing sickness during pregnancy. In the late 1950s, it was 

linked to fetal deaths and serious birth defects (the phrase 

does not capture the horrific effects of the drug) in thou-

sands of newborns. At the time, drugs were tested only 

on rodents and did not have to be tested for teratogenic 

effects. The drug was never marketed in the United States 

because its approval was blocked by a young US Food and 

Drug Administration (FDA) inspector. Frances Kelsey, MD, 

PhD—on her first assignment during her first month at the 

FDA— based her decision on the fact that the data in the 

application for thalidomide did not establish its safety and 

effectiveness and that there were no data indicating whether 

the drug could cross the placenta.11 Despite pressure from 

the manufacturer and from others inside the FDA, she pre-

vailed in preventing the drug from being approved.12

 Dr Kelsey also noted that there were no data from clini-

cal trials of the drug in the United States  and that there was 

no way of knowing whether such data would be reliable. 

Clinical trials were not yet required for FDA approval, and 

any trials that were conducted were not subject to oversight. 

“[T]he ‘clinical trials’ of thalidomide in Europe involved dis-

tributing more than 2.5 million tablets of the drug to about 

20,000 patients, including 3,760 women of childbearing 

age, of whom at least 200 were pregnant. More than 1,000 

physicians participated in these trials, but few tracked their 

patients after dispensing the drug.”13 (Unknown to the FDA, 

thalidomide had already been distributed to 1,200 phy-

sicians in the United States, many of whom were treating 

pregnant women. The agency eventually launched a  

nationwide campaign to recover as much of the drug as 

possible.14)

 The thalidomide tragedy led to the 1962 Kefauver-Harris 

Drug Amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic 

Act that required manufacturers to prove both safety and 

efficacy and greatly increased surveillance and monitor-

ing of the drug approval process.14 The new regulations also 

required manufacturers to disclose all side effects encoun-

tered in testing and to provide the public with accurate  

Figure 2. The Hazards of Medication, 
by Eric W. Martin, PhD. This 900-
page volume contains a 400-page 
table of drug interactions and 
includes information on more than 
600 of the most widely used drugs. 
Another 50-page table details the 
ways in which many drugs can 
affect the results of laboratory tests. 
The first edition sold 30,000 copies.

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AMWAJournal.org     30Eric Wentworth Martin – Pharmacist, Researcher, Author

information about the side effects and efficacy of a drug. The 

FDA also launched the Drug Efficacy Study Implementation, 

an initiative that retrospectively evaluated drugs already 

on the market by 1962. This tightening of regulations was 

global; the European Union adopted Directive 65/65/EEC1 

in 1965 to coordinate the approval process in the European 

Economic Community, and the United Kingdom passed the 

1968 Medicines Act to control the testing and manufacture of 

drugs for human and veterinary use.14

 For her part in saving the United States from the same 

disaster Europe had experienced, President Kennedy 

awarded Dr Kelsey the President's Award for Distinguished 

Federal Civilian Service, the highest honor given to a  

civilian in the United States. She was the second woman to 

receive the award.11

 These changes in the drug approval process and the 

need to meet new and extensive domestic and international 

licensing requirements created great uncertainty among 

manufacturers. To address this uncertainty, 30 pharmaceu-

tical professionals, medical writers, and academics founded 

the Drug Information Association (DIA) in 1964.15 The idea 

behind the Association was that “a climate of cooperation 

expedites the transfer of drug information from the minds 

of those who have it to the minds of those who need it, with 

a minimum of duplication of effort,” according to one of the 

founders and its first president, Dr Eric W. Martin (Box).2,15

 Today, the DIA has more than 22,000 members from 

80 countries. Based in Washington, DC, the Association 

has regional offices in Pennsylvania, China, Japan, 

Switzerland, and India. It publishes the quarterly, peer-re-

viewed Drug Information Journal, and sponsors more than 

125 meetings, trainings, and continuing education courses 

each year.15  

CLOSING
The Eric W. Martin Award for Excellence in Medical Writing 

was bestowed on AMWA members who in the previous 

year published print or electronic monographs or articles 

on topics either for the public or for a professional medical 

audience.16 The award may have been established by Eric’s 

wife, Ruth, in honor of his life (Telephone call with Lilian 

Sablack June 27, 2020).

 Much of Eric’s life is unknown. He is not mentioned on 

the DIA website, and his name does not appear on Internet 

searches, other than as an author or on the award named for 

him. So, it is not surprising—and perhaps even fitting—that 

I still could not determine the date of his death at the time 

of this writing.

Author declaration and disclosures: The author reports no 
competing interests with this article.

Author contact: tomlangcom@aol.com

References
1.   Kramer JE. Third Decennial Supplement to the “First Century of the 

Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.” 1941-51. Philadelphia College 
of Pharmacy and Science; 1952.

THE REBIRTH OF AMWA
As horrible as thalidomide was, it also saved AMWA. 
From its founding in 1948 and throughout the 1960s, 
the Association was an organization of physician jour-
nal editors. As the physician members retired and were 
not replaced, membership became dangerously low. Eric 
became President in 1970, when the need for more com-
plete and standardized regulatory documents increased 
the demand for regulatory writers, which of course was 
Eric’s area of expertise. He and four others created much 
of the Association as we know it today:

Arnold Melnick, DO, Executive Vice Chancellor and 
Provost of the Health Professions Division, Nova 
Southeastern University, who, in retirement with a 
friend, decided to start an osteopathic school in 1980 
and enrolled the first class in 1981.

Red Schifrin, PhD, a clinical researcher at Hoffman-
LaRoche who became Vice President and head of 
Drug Regulatory Affairs and was widely regarded as an 
expert in drug approval.  His prestige was instrumental 
in attracting new members and sponsors.

Bill Nelligan, the executive director of the American 
College of Cardiology, who (surreptitiously) donated 
space, clerical support, and the salary for an executive 
director for 2 years. He remained a loyal supporter of 
AMWA throughout his career.

Lillian Sablack, AMWA’s first executive director, was 
hired in 1973. She helped establish the annual meet-
ings and brought order to the administrative functions. 
(Lil was my sister-in-law for many years, and we are 
still close. She loved to repeat a joke I once told her 
“What’s the difference between Lil and a terrorist?  
You can negotiate with a terrorist.” It’s funny because 
it’s true . . .)  

These 4 people reorganized AMWA, began what was 
called the core curriculum, established a conference built 
around workshops of the core curriculum, and began to 
appeal to new constituencies. Regulatory writers began 
to join, as did writers and editors in scientific publications. 
Later, employees of medical communication companies 
and contract research organizations, both of which serve 
the pharmaceutical industry, also began to join. 

The rest, as they say, is history. (Telephone conversation 
with Lilian Sablack, July 2020.)

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AMWAJournal.org     31Eric Wentworth Martin – Pharmacist, Researcher, Author

2.   Melnick A. Melnick on Writing: An Anthology of Columns from 
the American Medical Writers Association Journal. AuthorHouse; 
2012.

3.   SGS acquires Harrison Research Laboratories. SGS website. 
Published June 19, 2017. Accessed July 4, 2020. https://www.
sgs.com/en/news/2017/06/sgs-acquires-harrison-research-
laboratories-inc-usa

4.   University of the Sciences Program in Biomedical Writing. 
Accessed July 1, 2022. https://www.petersons.com/graduate-
schools/university-of-the-sciences-in-philadelphia-college-of-
graduate-studies-program-in-biomedical-writing-000_10039831.
aspx. Accessed July 1, 2022. [Au: The University of the Sciences 
was absorbed by St. Joseph’s University June 1, 2022, 1 month 
before this article went to press. The University of Sciences 
master's program in medical writing was discontinued after 
the merger. There are no details. The link here is to a company 
specializing in preparing students for standardized testing that 
also has a directory of university programs.

5.   Fischelis RP. Dr. Martin becomes editor. J Am Pharm Assoc Pract 
Pharm Ed. 1956;17:219.

6.   Martin EW. A new vocabulary: adverse drug experiences and EDP.  
J Am Pharma Assn. 1966;NS6(2):69-72. Accessed July 1, 2022. 
https://www.japha.org/article/S0003-0465(15)31375-6.pdf 

7.   Martin EW. Hazards of Medication: A Manual on Drug 
Interactions, Incompatibilities, Contraindications, Interactions, 
and Adverse Events. J.B. Lippincott; 1971.

8.   Herman ES. University of Pennsylvania’s CB Warfare Controversy. 
BioScience. 1967;17(8):526–529.

9.   Langer E. University of Pennsylvania: it’s hard to kick the habit. 
Science. 1967;155(3759):177.

10.  George Merck: American Chemist. PeoplePill website. Accessed 
July 4, 2020. https://peoplepill.com/people/george-w-merck/

11.  National Library of Medicine. Changing the face of medicine.  
Dr. Frances Kathleen Oldham Kelsey, Celebrating America’s 
Women Physicians. National Library of Medicine website. 
Accessed July 6, 2020. https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/
physicians/biography_182.html      

12.  Fintel B, Samaras A, Carias E. The Thalidomide tragedy: lessons 
for drug safety and regulation. Accessed July 1, 2022. https://
vaccinesafety.info/2021/08/26/the-thalidomide-tragedy-lessons-
for-drug-safety-and-regulation-helix-magazine/

13.  Stephens T, Brynner R. Dark Remedy: The Impact of Thalidomide 
and Its Revival as a Vital Medicine. Basic Books; 2009.

14.  US Food and Drug Administration. Kefauver-Harris Amendments 
Revolutionized Drug Development. Accessed July 1, 2022.  
https://www.gvsu.edu/cms4/asset/F51281F0-00AF-E25A-
5BF632E8D4A243C7/kefauver-harris_amendments.fda.
thalidomide.pdf  

15.  Reilly MJ. Drug Information: Literature Review of Needs, 
Resources, and Services. U.S. Health Services and Mental Health 
Administration; 1972.

16.  American Medical Writers Association. Membership Recognition 
& Award. AMWA website. Accessed July 1, 2022. https://www.
amwa.org/page/past_awards

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