Dr. John E McDonald

Dr. John McDonald earned his medical degree and a first-class BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry from the University of Glasgow in 1994. He became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1997. After conducting research in heart failure, he received training in Cardiology through the West of Scotland rotation program based in Glasgow. This training covered various aspects of general cardiology with a focus on interventional cardiology, heart failure, pacemaker implantation, transthoracic and transoesophageal echo, and the management of ischaemic heart disease, arrhythmia, and hypertension.

In 2005, Dr. McDonald completed an international interventional fellowship for a year at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Canada. During this period, he gained extensive experience in various procedures such as transradial percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), laser and rotational atherectomy, and primary PCI. He mainly performs transradial interventions for better patient comfort and lower bleeding risk. Dr. McDonald also conducted research on preventing in-stent restenosis and presented his work at national and international conferences.

Since 2007, Dr. McDonald has worked as an Interventional Consultant Cardiologist at Blackburn Royal Hospital in Blackburn after briefly working as a consultant at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester. He has contributed significantly to improving cardiac care in East Lancashire. He performs approximately 600 angiograms/angioplasty procedures and 100 pacemaker implants annually, and his annual workload exceeds 1,000 patients, covering all areas of clinical cardiology. He specializes in chronic total occlusions (CTOs) and is recognized as an expert at the national and local levels. He visits other hospitals in the area to offer proctoring to other cardiologists for CTO procedures and is one of the most experienced operators for complex coronary interventions in Lancashire.