Marcelo Martínez

He/Him

I am gay and I am a neuroscience Ph.D.//

I am originally from Honduras, but I currently work as a post-doctoral researcher for Taipei Medical University and National Yang-Ming University in Taipei, Taiwan (also shoutout to Taiwan for being the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage! Proud of you!! ️‍ ). In my lab we research the neural underpinnings of socioemotional behavior, specifically empathy and morality, and how the processes that give rise to it are affected across different ailments (e.g., in anxiety, schizophrenia, ASD, psychopathy, among others). Growing up gay in a latino and very Catholic household, attending a males-only Catholic school with your dad as the principal in an LGBTQ+ non-friendly country wasn’t easy. Nevertheless, I thank my parents’ love for books for opening up my desire and interest towards knowledge and science. Back in Honduras I studied psychology and worked as a psychotherapist, and which is a job I miss greatly. But I can only do that back in Honduras where, contrary to Taiwan, resources for research are scarce, and a research culture is almost non-existent. Furthermore, Taiwan is very progressive in terms of LGBTQ+ rights, as we can attest since (and as mentioned before) it’s the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.

Instagram: @marcelormmc