University of Nevada School of Medicine Dean, Dr. John McDonald, appointed to new State of Nevada Medical Commission

Reno, Nev.—University of Nevada School of Medicine Dean and Vice President of Health Sciences, John A. McDonald, M.D., Ph.D., was recently appointed to the new Nevada State Commission on Medical Research and Health Care.

The commission is tasked with providing a forum to enable experienced Nevadans to join together to create short- and long-term blueprints to enhance the level of medical education, research, and training available in the state. The commission will provide state leaders with advice on how to forge new partnerships, stimulate new discoveries, establish common priorities, and help Nevada health care organizations benefit from each other’s strengths. The aim is to improve the level of technology, training, and innovations to enhance the quality of health care in Nevada and the state’s reputation as an outstanding place to study medicine, conduct research, work, and live.

Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn called for the creation of the Nevada State Commission on Medical Research and Health Care in his 2005 State of the State Address. Guinn appointed Don Snyder of Las Vegas as the commission chairman. With Snyder’s assistance, Guinn selected fourteen other commission members, including McDonald, who were selected from a wide variety of occupations.

McDonald has served as vice president for health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Nevada since 2004. Previously, he served as chief of medicine at the Salt Lake City Veterans Affairs medical center from 2001 to 2004 and guided the formation of a clinical and basic science research institute at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale from 1991 to 2001. From 1979 to 1991, McDonald served at Washington University School of Medicine-Barnes Hospital in St. Louis where he built and directed an internationally recognized program in pulmonary and critical care medicine. McDonald has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, several books, and has lectured extensively in the U.S. and abroad. He received training in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and pulmonary disease at the National Institutes of Health. He earned his medical degree from Duke University and was awarded a doctorate in biochemistry from Rice University.

As the state’s only public medical school, the University of Nevada School of Medicine has been meeting statewide healthcare, educational, and clinical needs since 1969. For more information, please visit www.medicine.nevada.edu.