Ask the Expert 2026
James Martel, M.D.
California Northstate University
Dr. Martel graduated from Stanford, earned his M.D. and Master of Public Health from Harvard, and completed his ophthalmology residency at Johns Hopkins. A surgeon-scientist, he pioneered periorbital reconstruction and joined California Northstate University College of Medicine in 2011, becoming Dean in 2026. He pioneered AI applications for ophthalmologic diagnostics and teleophthalmology, collaborating with students on retinal diagnosis. An active scholar, he exemplifies the physician-leader.
What distinguishes California Northstate University’s College of Medicine from other medical schools?
At CNU, we focus on training caring and competent physicians who put their patients’ well-being first. We also foster a strong sense of scientific curiosity in our students, preparing them to drive innovation and advance the future of medicine.
What qualities are essential for future physicians?
I believe three qualities are essential: the ability to reason from an undifferentiated problem—disease doesn’t organize itself by department; the willingness to be one of many— medicine has outgrown solitary excellence; and quantitative seriousness—physicians must judge evidence constantly and increasingly evaluate technologies that produce confident answers without understanding. We build these qualities by design and by environment. The Clinical Presentation curriculum trains students to reason forward from a symptom. And environment matters: Our graduates report less burnout and less mistreatment than their peers nationally, and they’re likelier to say they’d choose medicine again.
How are CNU’s partnerships with healthcare organizations helping shape the future of healthcare in our community?
Our partnerships aren’t a supplement to education—they are the education. Students train where care actually happens: Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Health, Sutter Health and sites across Northern California. This gives students broad clinical experience and provides our partners with physicians they have helped train. The community impact is measurable. CNU was founded to address this region’s physician shortage, and our graduates are staying: Over 50% of the Class of 2026 intends to practice in California, compared with roughly 13% nationally.
9700 W. Taron Dr. Elk Grove. 916-686-7300. medicine.cnsu.edu
