Dr. Neil MacDonald is the recipient of the 2011 Balfour Mount Champion Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the field of palliative care in Canada.
Since attending McGill University and completing his post-graduate studies at McGill and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, Dr. MacDonald has worked tirelessly towards advancing palliative care throughout Canada. Some of Dr. MacDonald’s notable accomplishments include serving as an Associate Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at McGill (1967-1970); Director of the Alberta Cancer Program (1971-1975), Director of Edmonton’s Cross Cancer Institute (1971-1987); Director of the Division of Oncology for the University of Alberta (1975-1987); Director of the Cancer Ethics Programme within the Centre for Bioethics, Clinical Research Institute of Montreal (1994-2002); President of the Canadian Oncology Society and Vice-President of the Canadian Cancer Society; President of the Protem Board responsible for finalizing plans for the starting of the Canadian Society for Palliative Care Physicians in 1993-1994. He is the co-editor ofPalliative Care – a case-based manualEditions 1, 2 and 3, and co-editor of theOxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine, Editions 1 and 2. In 1980-1981 Dr. MacDonald spent a year with the Palliative Care Program at McGill University, and then returned to Edmonton where he worked on integrating palliative care and oncology services. In 1987 he was named Professor of Palliative Medicine and recipient of one of the first Canadian Chairs in the field. Dr. MacDonald has also worked on many cross border activities.
He is the Founding Director of the McGill Cancer Nutrition – Rehabilitation Program, Department of Oncology, McGill University. Dr. MacDonald’s current interests centre on research and clinical care to assist patients and families combating nutritional problems associated with advanced cancer, studies on the impact of a chronic inflammatory state on cancer symptoms, and on ethical issues in palliative care research.