George B. McDonald, MD

Dr. McDonald is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a Member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in the Gastroenterology/Hepatology Section. His overall research goals have been the reduction of morbidity from cancer treatment, improved survival, and prevention of late sequelae of cancer treatment. Dr. McDonald is recognized internationally as an expert in the field of gastroenterology. His research is focused on gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary complications of hematopoietic cell transplantation, specifically problems involving the toxicity of high-dose radiation/chemotherapy regimens that are used to prepare patients for transplantation and acute and chronic Graft-versus-Host disease (GVHD) involving the gastrointestinal tract and liver. He has recently developed and validated a new method of assessing the severity of acute GVHD, called the acute GVHD Activity Index, an accurate predictor of transplant-related mortality. He was the lead investigator on the clinical trials that pioneered the use of topical corticosteroid therapy with oral beclomethasone dipropionate for GI GVHD. He is also collaborating with Dr. George Georges on evaluating the effects of radiation injury on the GI tract in the canine model of GI-ARS. He has more than 200 peer-reviewed publications.