A Father-Daughter Journey to Pathology

June 11, 2026

Guillermo G. Martinez-Torres

Veronica Martinez-Brockhus

Transcript

Elizabeth McMahon 0:02

A proud father and his newly graduated daughter share moments in her barrier-breaking journey to pathology.

Dr. Veronica Martinez-Brockhus 0:10

He's always been supportive of letting me choose whatever I wanted to do. And it's just been really fun being able to share that with him and experience everything together.

Elizabeth McMahon 0:24

This is Path News Network Daily Edition from the College of American Pathologists. I'm Elizabeth McMahon with a special edition of the podcast. It's Thursday, June 11th. They're the moments that make parents proud. Acceptance by a university, graduation day, the first job offer. It's a feeling that Dr. Guillermo Martinez-Tores knows firsthand. His oldest daughter, Samantha, has a doctorate in piano. And this spring, his youngest daughter, Veronica Martinez Brockhus, received her medical degree from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. But the day was sweeter because just weeks before, Veronica, known as Ronnie, matched to a residency program in pathology. For her father, a CAP governor and president and chief physician of the Maine-based Northern Diagnostics, it was a proud, full circle moment. In a recent interview, Dr. Martinez-Torres and Dr. Martinez Brockhus shared some of their journey together, starting with memories of a young Ronnie peering at cells under her father's microscope. She says despite those days in her dad's lab examining everything micro, she initially favored marine science for college. But gradually, health challenges in her family changed her perspective.

Dr. Veronica Martinez-Brockhus 1:46

Unfortunately, our families have been impacted from cancer a lot. All of my grandparents and close family friends. And that was definitely something that I realized, like, oh, I really want to do work with cancer. So I did immunology research for a while and really fell in love with immunology, worked on developing uh cell therapies for cancer research, and then I did clinical research for oncology trials, and it was just way too sad for me. And so that was kind of when I took the turn three years before I started medical school, because I took four gap years, was when I realized, okay, I'm probably I'm going to end up doing pathology. And everything just pushed me in that direction.

Elizabeth McMahon 2:29

Despite the draw toward her father's specialty, Dr. Martinez Torres urged his daughter to keep an open mind.

Dr. Guillermo G. Martinez-Torres 2:36

Once she got into medical school, you know, I remember Ronnie asking me, Dad, do you want me to be a pathologist? And I said, I want you to be whatever, whatever you want to be. It's up to you. I said, be a sponge when you get into medical school. You're gonna get, you're gonna meet that individual, have that experience that is gonna be like a spark that's just gonna go off, and you're gonna say, I want to do this for the rest of my life. So I said, keep an open mind, you know, and and you know, again, everything lined up, and Ronnie's the one that came to me, I believe, it was last year after the Resident Forum Executive Committee meeting in Boston, where she said, Dad, I think I know what I want to do. And I was ready for anything, and she said, I want to do pathology.

Elizabeth McMahon 3:27

When Dr. Martinez Brocas entered the resident matching program, her resume looked a little different from those of her fellow med students. Rather than an MD, she received a DO or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. The degree integrates conventional medical training with osteopathic principles and manipulative treatment. Dr. Martinez Brockhus's first choice residency program at Mass General Brigham in Boston had never accepted a DO candidate before. When Match Day arrived in March, father and daughter sat together as she opened her envelope.

Dr. Veronica Martinez-Brockhus 4:03

I was pretty shocked when I opened the envelope and my dad and I were just ugly sobbing, just because it felt so surreal, honestly, to you know, it's like a dream come true. And I'm sure everyone who's experienced that knows like that feeling like, wow, I really did it, and it's really cool to be proud of yourself for your accomplishments.

Elizabeth McMahon 4:26

Knowing his daughter is entering pathology at Mass General Brigham at a time of rapid innovation gives Dr. Martinez Torres great hope for a field he loves.

Dr. Guillermo G. Martinez-Torres 4:37

I'm so excited for Ronnie's future in the next 10, 15, 20 years because you know, this microscope that I have on my desk is during Ronnie's tenure as a pathologist. That's gonna find its way to a museum because we're we're not gonna be using those anymore. Uh and um so there's gonna be this transformative uh era which we're already in, but which is gonna quickly accelerate even further. Because when we can digitize that image, we can put tools on it that we can't put on a microscope. And um we can predict disease, we can treat disease, we can do all of these things that uh that we're just getting started with, and it's very exciting to be there.

Elizabeth McMahon 5:25

Dr. Martinez Brockhus starts her pathology residency on Monday, her proud parents cheering her on from Maine. Though the journey has already been long, she says her dad's encouragement and love of pathology has helped her land exactly where she wants to be.

Dr. Veronica Martinez-Brockhus 5:42

He's always been supportive of letting me choose whatever I wanted to do, and it's just been really fun being able to share that with him and experience everything together.

Elizabeth McMahon 5:54

That's all for today's Daily Edition. Be sure to check the show notes for more information on today's stories. Got a story you'd like us to cover on the Daily Edition? Write to us at stories at cap.org. We're back at 5 a.m. Eastern for another episode of the Daily Edition. I'm Elizabeth McMahon. Have a great day.