Eleanor Josephine Macdonald

Eleanor Josephine Macdonald (4 March 1906 – 26 July 2007) was a pioneer American cancer epidemiologist and cancer researcher influenced and mentored by Edwin Bidwell Wilson and Shields Warren. One of the earliest proponents of the idea that cancer was a preventable disease. She established the first cancer registry in the United States in Connecticut.

Eleanor J. Macdonald, pioneer epidemiologist and cancer researcher.

Life and times

Eleanor Josephine Macdonald the daughter of Angus Alexander and Catherine Macdonald was born in the Boston suburb of West Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1906. She died in Houston, Texas, in 2007. Angus Alexander, whose family had come from Scotland, was an engineer at A.T. & T. and Catharine Boland Macdonald, whose family were of Anglo-Irish descent was a concert pianist. She attended Radcliffe College and graduated in 1928 with A.B. degrees in music, history of literature, and English. For 4 years following graduation, she performed as a professional cellist.[1][2]

Epidemiology career

Robert B. Greenough, M.D., chairman of the Cancer Committee in Massachusetts, and friend of the family asked Macdonald for assistance in writing a research paper on cystic mastitis.[3][4] This led her to become an epidemiologist. Macdonald studied the fundamentals of epidemiology and statistics at Harvard University School of Public Health. At Harvard she worked with Edwin Bidwell Wilson who tutored her in statistical approaches and the Ronald Fisher methods. Macdonald was then appointed as the Epidemiologist in Boston's State Cancer Program at the Division of Adult Hygiene for director Dr. Herbert L. Lombard.[5][6] She was an early adopter of the new computer technology that became available to researchers. Since about 1930 Macdonald worked with Remington Rand punch cards.[7][8] From 1940 to 1948 she worked for the Connecticut State Department of Health as statistician. Then to Memorial Hospital in New York. Macdonald was asked by Dr. Thomas Parran, Jr., U.S. Surgeon General to set up a national cancer registry as she had done in Connecticut. In 1948 her work in Connecticut led to publishing the seminal work "The Incidence and Survival in Cancer".[9] After this she went on to M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas.[10]

Her work in New England caught the attention of Dr. R. Lee Clark who recruited her to be the head of the newly created Department of Epidemiology at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute.[11] In 1948 she went to Houston to become Professor of Epidemiology at MD Anderson. During her tenure she developed a 200-code (referred to as the anticipatory code) method for transcribing patient charts that provided statistical information to M. D. Anderson's physicians and researchers.[12][13] In 1982 Macdonald retired from MD Anderson and from 1974 continued to serve as professor emeritus.[14][15] She died at home in Houston, Texas on 26 July 2007.[16][17]

Awards and honors

Professional service

Select publications
  • Lombard, Herbert L., and Eleanor Josephine Macdonald. (1931). "State-Aided Cancer Clinics as Seen by the Practicing Physician." New England Journal of Medicine. 205(20): 949–951.
  • Macdonald, Eleanor J. (February 1936). Fundamentals of Epidemiology. Radcliffe Quarterly. 19–22.
  • Macdonald, E. J. (1938). Accuracy of the Cancer Death Records. American Journal of Public Health and the Nation's Health. 28(7): 818–824.
  • Macdonald, Eleanor J., and Frances A. Macdonald. (1940). "Evaluation of Cancer Control Methodology." American Journal of Public Health and the Nation's Health. 30(5): 483–490.
  • Macdonald, Eleanor J. (1948). "Malignant melanoma in Connecticut." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 4: 71.
  • Macdonald, E. J. (1948). The present incidence and survival picture in cancer and the promise of improved prognosis. Bulletin of American College of Surgeons.
  • Clark Jr, R. Lee, & Macdonald, E. J. (1949). The University of Texas, MD Anderson Hospital for Cancer Research. Medical woman's journal. 56(8): 34–37.
  • Clark, R. Lee, & Macdonald, E. J. (1953). The natural history of melanoma in man. Pigment cell growth. 139-148
  • Wall, J. A., Fletcher, Gilbert H., & Macdonald, E. J. (1954). Endometrial biopsy as a standard diagnostic technique; a review of 445 cases. The American Journal of Roentgenology, Radium Therapy, and Nuclear Medicine. 71(1): 95.
  • Macdonald, E. J. (1959). The epidemiology of skin cancer. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 1(9): 522.
  • Macdonald, E. J. (1963). The epidemiology of melanoma. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 100(1): 4-17.
  • University of Texas MD Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, Houston. Department of Epidemiology, & Macdonald, E. J. (1968). The Survey of Cancer in Texas 1944-1966: Present Status and Results, June 30, 1968. Prepared by Eleanor J. Macdonald and the Staff of the Department of Epidemiology.

References
  1. Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer. (1929). Radcliffe College. Cambridge, MA.
  2. Ruiz, Rosanna. (28 July 2007). Eleanor J. Macdonald. Houston Chronicle.
  3. Greenough, Robert B. (1905). On the Nature of the Cell Inclusions of Cancer. The Journal of medical research. 13(2): 137.
  4. Greenough, Robert B. (1925). "Varying Degrees of Malignancy in Cancer of the Breast." The Journal of Cancer Research 9(4): 453-463.
  5. Lombard, Herbert L., and Eleanor Josephine Macdonald. (1931). "State-Aided Cancer Clinics as Seen by the Practicing Physician." New England Journal of Medicine. 205(20): 949-951.
  6. Olson, J.S. (2011). Making Cancer History. Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore, MD.
  7. Macdonald, Eleanor J. (February 1936). "Fundamentals of Epidemiology." The Radcliffe Quarterly. February 1936: 19-22.
  8. Marchiafava, Louis J. (19 May 2000). Eleanor Macdonald. Making Cancer History, Voices Oral History Project. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Oral History Project. Houston, Texas.
  9. Macdonald, E. J. (1948). The present incidence and survival picture in cancer and the promise of improved prognosis. Bulletin of American College of Surgeons.
  10. Ruiz, Rosanna. (28 July 2007). Eleanor J. Macdonald. Houston Chronicle.
  11. Hill, C. Stratton. (20 February 2012). Remembering MD Anderson Presidents and Dr. Eleanor Macdonald. Oral History Interview. Historical Resources Center, Research Medical Library, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Houston, TX.
  12. Clark Jr, R., & Macdonald, E. J. (1949). The University of Texas, MD Anderson Hospital for Cancer Research. Medical woman's journal, 56(8): 34-37.
  13. Guide to the R. Lee Clark Papers. (13 December 1987). Randolph Lee Clark. Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library. Houston, TX.
  14. McMurray, E. J., Kosek, J.K., Valade, R.M. (1995). Notable Twentieth-century Scientists. Gale Research Inc. Detroit, MI.
  15. Bourgoin, S.M., Byers, P.K. (1998). Encyclopedia of World Biography. Gale Research Inc. Detroit, MI.
  16. Encyclopedia.com. (2004). "Eleanor Josephine Macdonald." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Retrieved August 17, 2014 from Encyclopedia.com
  17. Ruiz, Rosanna. (28 July 2007). Eleanor J. Macdonald. Houston Chronicle.
  18. Taylor, S.H. (2012). History of MD Anderson’s Tumor Registry. 60 Years of Survival Outcomes at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Springer. New York, NY.
  19. Rodriguez, M. Alma, Walters, R.S., Burke, T.W. (Eds). (2013). 60 Years of Survival Outcomes at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Springer. . New York, NY.
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