Dr. McDonald joined the University of Tennessee Memorial Research Center in 1965 and became a professor in the Department of Animal Science in the College of Veterinary Medicine in 1983. He retired in 1996. A specialist in hematology, he earned international recognition for his research on blood platelets.
He was awarded US patents in 1992 and 1997 and authored more than three hundred scientific publications. His work helped clarify the role of the hormone thrombopoietin in normal physiology and its clinical usefulness and for increasing platelet counts in patients with cancer, chronic myelogenous leukemia, AIDS, patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation, or with congenital thrombopoietin deficiency.
He served as regional councilor of the Southeastern Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine (1977–80). He received the Beecham Award for Research Excellence (1987) and the Chancellor’s Award for Research and Creative Achievement (1990). His contributions to the intellectual life of the university have been recognized by placement of a plaque in his honor on a faculty study.