Andrew McDonald, M.D., M.S.Andrew McDonald, M.D., M.S., was appointed the second holder of the Radiation Oncology Accelerated (ROAR) Southeast Cancer Foundation Endowed Chair in Radiation Oncology by the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama System during the Sept. 5 board meeting.
McDonald is Associate Professor and Director of the Radiation Oncology Residency Program in the UAB Department of Radiation Oncology.
He joined the department in 2017 after completing residency training at UAB. He holds a master’s degree in mathematics from UAB and a medical degree from the UAB School of Medicine.
“Dr. McDonald is an extremely important part of our practice. He has become a leader in innovative treatments for prostate cancer. He works daily to assess treatment outcomes and help patients of the future as we look back and make determinations about treatments that provide the highest cures and quality of life,” said James. A. Bonner, Chair, UAB Department of Radiation Oncology.
McDonald is a nationally recognized expert in the treatment of genitourinary malignancies and is an active member of the Cancer Service Line Genitourinary Cancer Management Team at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.
McDonald is also a leader in radiation oncology outcomes research. He serves as a member of the UAB Institute for Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship where his primary research focus is characterizing and mitigating treatment-related complications in cancer survivors including design and implementation of clinical trials aiming to improve survivorship outcomes.
McDonald’s work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), American Cancer Society (ACS), and industry partners such as Varian Medical Systems and Eli Lilly. He is a co-investigator for UAB’s Lead Academic Partnership Site (LAPS) grant and serves as the site principal investigator (PI) for NRG Oncology.
At the departmental level, he is a member of the Quality Steering Committee, co-leads the peer review conference and co-chaired the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis Task Group for intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), a multidisciplinary effort to improve the safety of advanced radiation therapy.
He has been the Radiation Oncology Residency Program Director since 2020 and is a research mentor for medical students and residents.
“I'm honored to be the second recipient of the ROAR Southeast Cancer Foundation Endowed Chair in Radiation Oncology,” McDonald said. “The generous sponsorship of this endowed chair will allow me to continue to prioritize our academic missions, both to improve patient outcomes as well as educate the next generation of radiation oncologists.”
Established in 2013, this endowment was made possible by a significant gift from ROAR, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, that continues to raise funds through annual events and advocacy for cancer research programs in the UAB Department of Radiation Oncology.