Eleanor J. Macdonald

PROFESSOR ELEANOR J. MACDONALD died peacefully in her home in Houston, Texas on 26 July, 2007. Professor Macdonald was born 4 March 1906, in Sommerville, Massachusetts, the third child of Angus and Catherine Boland Macdonald. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Christine, her parents and five siblings, Ronald, George, Frances, Mary and Marion; she is survived by six nephews and one niece, and their families including a great niece. Professor Macdonald graduated from Radcliffe College in 1928. She was an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa and studied with the eminent mathematician, E. Bidwell Wilson at Harvard Medical School. This work resulted in her entry as Epidemiologist into the first state program in cancer in the United States in Boston, MA in 1930. In the ensuing years, Professor Macdonald had a long and distinguished career in the field of cancer control in public health and the epidemiology of cancer. She was a pioneer in the three major state cancer programs, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Texas. From 1934 to 1937, she made significant contributions to the field of Chronic Disease Control, a new and radical concept at the time. This involved setting up cooperative Cancer Control Committees in every Massachusetts town and city, speaking three nights a week to cover 355 communities, and for two years, giving a weekly educational radio talks. She provided information on historical trends in cancer and other pertinent data to every physician in the state. In 1941, Professor Macdonald established the Connecticut Cancer Registry and Follow-up Program, the first and only complete cancer registry in existence. Based on this work, the first true population-based incidence and survival figures over time on cancer in the United States were published in a landmark paper, "The Incidence and Survival in Cancer," New England Journal of Medicine, 1948. From 1944 through 1947, Professor Macdonald served as a consultant to the National Advisory Council, working with Dr. George Milton Smith, Chairman of the Council. Her data on cancer for every state by county, including facilities, provided a complete program for each state that was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in April 1946, this report was the basis of the expanded cancer control program for the next 25 years. At the request of the chairman of the Cancer Committee of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Robert B. Greenough, Professor Macdonald participated in preparing the text for the minimum requirements of a cancer clinic, which introduced the concept of the need for group diagnosis for cancer. On weekends in the 1940's, Professor Macdonald set up the Department of Statistics in the Memorial Cancer Center in New York and served as a weekly consultant until 1947. Her teaching career reflected pioneering efforts in the Epidemiology of Cancer for graduate students at the Harvard School of Public Health. She also lectured at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts Dental School. She was a regular lecturer on Cancer Control Methods from 1948 to 1960, at Yale University School of Medicine, where she continued to be an invited lecturer on the Epidemiology of Cancer at National and International Meetings, including meetings of the International Cancer Congress and The International Radiology Congress. As Chairperson of the session on the Epidemiology of Melanoma, Professor Macdonald participated in the conference on "Structure and Control of the Melanoctye" at the 1965 International Radiology Congress in Rome, the Duran Reynals International Congress in Barcelona, Spain in 1971 and 1973, and the 5th International Congress in Perugia in 1973. Professor Macdonald was one of six original member of the American Radium Society in its early years in Houston, and was honored by the American Association for Cancer Research for her 50 year membership. She was a life-long member of other scientific organizations, including the American Public Health Association and The American Society of Clinical Oncology. In 1948, as one of Dr. R. Lee Clark's original faculty, she was appointed Professor and Head of the Department of Epidemiology at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute. This was the first such department in a cancer institute and was established simultaneously with clinical and other research departments. She directed developmental epidemiological research of methods for the evaluation of all charts and records through continuing statistical analysis, incorporating the use of mechanical aids in the form of IBM equipment. This led to the natural evolution of the computer facility at M. D. Anderson. She developed a 200-item code to which every patient's chart was transcribed, thus providing retrievable clinical information for physicians and researchers on every patient since patient one, another first. The design and analysis of nearly clinical study in the growing institute from 1948 to 1974 was planned in her Department. Training of the staff in techniques involving painstaking attention to methods of correct sampling, completeness, and accuracy raised the quality of all the investigations. In addition, over 2000 individuals from the United States and every continent received intramural training in these techniques. Professor Macdonald was the biostatistician during its formative years, and for several years thereafter, for the Southwest Cancer Chemotherapy Study Group, the first of the cooperative clinical trials groups that involved several institutions. One study suggested by her established a staging method for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Professor Macdonald completed a cancer registry program in 56 Texas counties for 23 years, involving one-third of the population of Texas. A population-based incidence by 70 sites of cancer, 30 with cell types given when pertinent, by three ethnic groups was provided. Her many epidemiological contributions included proving that sun-related melanoma is generally superficial and increases as you approach the equator, and that an intensive program of near universal pap testing in El Paso County can reduce the incidence of stage I and II cervical cancers by diagnosing them before they become invasive. Her publications on basal and squamous cell skin cancer are pioneering efforts and give the only accurate population-based data over time on the subject. Professor Macdonald studied mortality by census tracts in the city of Houston and discovered a high incidence of respiratory cancer as well as heart disease related to prevailing winds and air pollution patterns. Interest in this study prompted establishment of a fund to test air samples, locate carcinogens, find their source and work toward their elimination or control. As Professor Emeritus at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center from 1974 until her retirement in 1982, she focused her attention on the analysis of her accumulated cancer epidemiological data, including ethnic and regional differences and studies of environmental factors. This work resulted in the 600 page volume entitled "Epidemiology of Cancer in Texas: Incidence Analyzed by Type, Ethnic Group and Geographic Location" and a second volume, "Cancer Mortality: Enviroment and Ethnic Factors." Over the course of her career, Professor Macdonald had more than 150 articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Professor Macdonald was included in the Texas Medical Center Hall of Fame, and was the recipient of the Myron Gorden Pigment Cell Growth Award, and the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. She was also an accomplished cellist. She was a spiritual daughter of Padre Pio. Her life was characterized by love and devotion to her immediate and extended family and friends, including loving caregivers, Guadencio and Olfelia Garcia and family and Mrs. Marta Alzate. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at ten o'clock in the mo