Dr. John S. Macdonald Honored at 2018 Luminary Awards

John S. Macdonald, MD, is the Senior Medical Advisor for AGICC (Academic GI Cancer Consortium) and the consolidated Oncology Consortia of Criterium groups, including: AMyC (Academic Myeloma Consortium), ATOMIC (Academic Thoracic Oncology Medical Investigators Consortium) and ABRCC (Academic Breast Cancer Consortium). He is a leading supporter and advocate of the Translational Research methodology.

Dr. Macdonald was one of a few select honorees at The Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancers Annual Luminary Awards on November 30th, 2018.

Dr. Macdonald successfully developed and led the Comprehensive Cancer Center at St. Vincent’s in New York City between 1997 and 2007. He is widely recognized as an industry and academic expert in gastrointestinal oncology and has written and lectured on the advantages of translational research. In addition to his responsibilities at Saint Vincent’s, Dr. Macdonald served as Chief of Medical Oncology there, and as the Lynn Wood Neag Endowed Professor of Medicine at the New York Medical College. He is acknowledged as a leading educator in Medical Oncology. 

Macdonald pioneered the use of chemoradiation after surgical resection of gastric cancers. This treatment regimen, aptly named the “Macdonald Regimen,” has helped turn the idea of a cure into a reality for thousands of patients with gastric cancers. This has also paved the way for the development of new treatment options for gastric cancers.  “[Macdonald] is a groundbreaking researcher, dedicated educator, and outstanding clinician,” said Sunnie Kim, MD, of the Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancers, prior to presenting Macdonald with his award. “He has changed the lives of countless patients with some of the deadliest cancers.”

Dr. Macdonald has authored over 400 articles, abstracts and book chapters and has been both published in, and editor of, many prestigious medical journals. Macdonald has received numerous awards and distinctions, including being named among Good Housekeeping’s Best 300 Doctors in America and, over a seven-year period, New York magazine’s Best Doctors in New York.

Visit the website to see Dr. Macdonald’s profile and all the Consortia groups.

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Probiotics to Treat Symptoms of Depression?

A new study is the first to show improved depression scores with a probiotic. It adds to the whole field of microbiota-gut-brain axis, providing evidence that bacteria affect behavior.

In a study published in the medical journal Gastroenterology, researchers of the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute found that twice as many adults with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) reported improvements from co-existing depression when they took a specific probiotic than adults with IBS who took a placebo. The study provides further evidence of the microbiota environment in the intestines being in direct communication with the brain said senior author Dr. Premysl Bercik, an associate professor of medicine at McMaster and a gastroenterologist for Hamilton Health Sciences.

“This study shows that consumption of a specific probiotic can improve both gut symptoms and psychological issues in IBS. This opens new avenues not only for the treatment of patients with functional bowel disorders but also for patients with primary psychiatric diseases,” he said. IBS is the most common gastrointestinal disorder in the world, and is highly prevalent in Canada. It affects the large intestine and patients suffer from abdominal pain and altered bowel habits like diarrhea and constipation. They are also frequently affected by chronic anxiety or depression.

The pilot study involved 44 adults with IBS and mild to moderate anxiety or depression. They were followed for 10 weeks, as half took a daily dose of the probiotic Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001, while the others had a placebo. At six weeks, 14 of 22, or 64%, of the patients taking the probiotic had decreased depression scores, compared to seven of 22 (or 32%) of patients given placebo. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) showed that the improvement in depression scores was associated with changes in multiple brain areas involved in mood control.

“This is the result of a decade long journey — from identifying the probiotic, testing it in preclinical models and investigating the pathways through which the signals from the gut reach the brain,” said Bercik. “The results of this pilot study are very promising but they have to be confirmed in a future, larger scale trial,” said Dr. Maria Pinto Sanchez, the first author and a McMaster clinical research fellow.

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