John C. McDonald

He was a surgery faculty member at Tulane University School of Medicine from 1968 to 1977. He then became Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the Louisiana State University Medical Center in Shreveport. Not being an adequate hospital for organ transplantation,^[4] in 1989, he led the affiliation of the Willis-Knighton Medical Center as the primary hospital for the transplantation program.^[1]

In 2000, McDonald was appointed Chancellor of the LSU Health Sciences Center at Shreveport and Dean of the School of Medicine in Shreveport. Under his direction, the surgery residency program went from a pyramidal program, where a certain number of resident physicians would be fired, leading to five resident physicians finishing the surgery residency to where only five incoming resident physicians were accepted each year.^[5][6]

Dr. McDonald held the offices of President of the United Network for Organ Sharing and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.^[1]

He was a recipient of the Roswell Park Medal for recognition in surgery. The Southern Surgical Association awarded him its highest honor, Honorary Fellow.^[1]

He retired on January 1, 2009.^[2] His name is used as the alumni association, the John C. McDonald Surgical Society^[7] as of 2003. The association was previously known as the Shreveport Surgical Society, for which he was a founding member in 1979.^[8] McDonald was given the title of Chancellor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus.^[9]