Jay M. McDonald, MD, FASCP, received the 2009 ASCP Ward Burdick Award for Distinguished Service to Clinical Pathology. The award recognizes an ASCP member who has made a significant contribution to pathology through sustained service to the profession and ASCP. The award was presented at the ASCP Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL, on October 30.
Dr. McDonald was Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology at The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Medical Center Schools of Medicine and Dentistry and Pathologist-in-Chief at University of Alabama Hospital from 1990-2008. He now serves as Professor in the Department of Pathology and Director of the UAB Center for Metabolic Bone Disease, funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is currently principal investigator on two NIH grants and one VA grant.
Dr. McDonald has received several honors and awards including the Mary Jane Krugal Award from the Juvenile Diabetes Association, the Evans Award from the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists, and the Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Pathology Chairs. He served on the External Review Committee of Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at numerous major institutions as well as the Institute of Medicine Committee on Creating a Vision for Space Medicine During Travel Beyond Earth Orbit. He has been President of the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists, was Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Pathology from 2003-2008, and is currently on the editorial boards of three scientific journals. He has been on several NIH and VA Study Sections. Throughout his career he has made major contributions broadly to basic science, education and research in clinical pathology.
For nearly 20 years, Dr. McDonald’s basic research focused on signal transduction in insulin action. He championed the role of calcium and the intracellular calcium receptor, calmodulin, and G-proteins in insulin action. His was one of the early groups to demonstrate active calcium homeostatic mechanisms in the plasma membrane, mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum of non-muscle cells. He proceeded to characterize their role in adipocytes in the mechanism of insulin action. For the past 15 years, Dr. McDonald’s research has shifted from diabetes to three other major areas of research: bone disease, cancer pathogenesis and AIDS pathogenesis. He continues to focus primarily on the role of calcium and calmodulin as intracellular signal transducers.
Dr. McDonald has published over 200 scientific manuscripts. He has two grown sons, enjoys fishing, woodworking and golf, and appreciates the hills and water surrounding the Birmingham area.