Jon M. McDonald, Ph.D.

Experience

• 

  University of Texas at Austin

  Oct 1990 - Aug 1991

  Laboratory Assistant

  As an undergraduate research assistant in the Department of Zoology, I participated in a nerve regeneration project that included the determination of temperature effects on axonal degeneration. For my part of the experiments, I conducted 7-day-old chick embryo dissections, using dorsal root ganglion cells for the establishment of primary tissue cultures.

• 

  Baylor College of Medicine

  Dec 1991 - Feb 2000

  Research Technician

  As a technician in the Diagnostic Virology Laboratory for Texas Children’s Hospital, my duties included developing and testing PCR assays for detection of viral infectious agents, extraction of nucleic acid from patient specimens, inoculation of human tissue cultures with human specimens, and detection of viral culture cytopathic effect.

• 

  University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

  Jun 1994 - Oct 2004

  Graduate Research Assistant

  Departments of Experimental Pediatrics and PathologyDuring my graduate school experience as a research assistant, I conducted projects that included PCR and sequencing analyses of DNA extracted from fresh/frozen and formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues. For my Master's thesis, I participated in a familial Wilms tumor genetic linkage study that identified a putative Wilms tumor predisposition gene in a 5Mb region of 19q. For my Ph.D. dissertation, I conducted a positional cloning project for tumor suppressor genes involved in glioma development. Show less

• 

  University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center

  Nov 2004 - Sept 2009

  Postdoctoral Fellow

  As a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, I received fellowships from the American Cancer Society and the American Brain Tumor Association for studies in determining genetic marker and other biomarker panels with predictive power to distinguish treatment sensitive tumors from treatment refractory tumors. Techniques utilized included microarray based gene expression profiling, comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT PCR), immunohistochemical staining, and genetic sequencing. Statistical analyses including stepwise regression modeling, survival analysis, and nucleotide sequence alignments were performed using SPSS and other software such as Sequence Alignment Map (SAM) and StatSoft Statistica. Show less

• 

  Houston Community College System

  Jan 2007 - Aug 2009

  Adjunct Professor

  As an adjunct professor, I organized, lectured, and wrote/proctored examinations for courses in Microbiology, General Biology, and Human Anatomy and Physiology. All courses included lectures and laboratory exercises.

• 

  Eagle Applied Sciences

  Oct 2009 - Jan 2012

  Senior Scientist/Program Manager

  As the Senior Scientist and Program Manager for the Advanced Diagnostic Laboratory (ADL), located on Lackland Air Force Base (LAFB), I supervised research nurses and technicians that tested new molecular assays and methodologies on clinical samples that potentially contained emerging and reemerging pathogens. I developed molecular assays and coordinated their validation between our nursing and laboratory teams, as well as government and military personnel. I reported the presence of respiratory pathogens to LAFB’s public health personnel, and provided annual progress reports to Wilford Hall’s Ambulatory Surgical Center’s International Review Board (WHASC-IRB).I also managed a translational research study evaluating the prevalence of risk-conferring genetic markers for Type 2 Diabetes. This included supervising clinical collections of type 2 diabetics, matched case-controls and military trainees, and interacting with WHASC-IRB on protocol management and informed consent documentation. I also coordinated whole genomic DNA extraction, sequencing, allelic discrimination, database administration, and statistical analysis for this study.Additionally, as Program Manager, I conducted financial reviews of our contracts for both company and client. Show less

• 

  MedPro Technologies, LLC

  Aug 2012 - Jul 2015

  Senior Statistical Analyst

  As the senior statistical analyst for the US Army Medical Command IDES Service Line, I developed metrics and built dashboards within the US Army Enterprise Strategic Management System (SMS) to assess compliance with processing timelines; work within SMS required familiarity with Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) and Tableau. I supervised weekly reporting of metrics on SMS, and provided direction for data compilation and their subsequent graphical analysis. These data analytics drove decisions at all levels, from assessing processing issues with individual Service Members to analyzing enterprise-wide trends and compliance. I routinely conducted statistical reviews to report performance trends and provided correctional recommendations to command-level leadership that drove manpower decisions for individual military medical centers and Regional Health Commands. Show less

• 

  Eagle Medical Services, LLC

  Jul 2015 - Apr 2019

  Senior Statistical Analyst

  As the senior statistical analyst for the US Army Medical Command Medical Evaluation Board Tracking Office (MEBTO), I prepare reports utilized to track Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES) progression issues including assessing military medical center compliance with processing timeline requirements. I accomplish this using MS Office Excel with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros to mine and consolidate data from the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Tracking Application (VTA) with data compiled from case logs and the Medical Evaluation Board Preparation (MEB Prep) application. My responsibilities include analyzing and summarizing data from cross-functional departments such as the National Guard Bureau, United States Army Reserves, Resource Management, and Human Resources Command. Show less

• 

  Goldbelt Frontier, LLC

  Apr 2019 - Jan 2022

  Analyst II
• 

  Goldbelt Frontier LLC

  Jan 2022 - now

  I am a Science Officer for a government contractor. I identify products of research grants funded by our customer, and interpret annual and final reports from scientists that receive these awards and ensure all protocols are met. I help facilitate and maintain these research grants from start to finish, collaborating with various institutions around the United States. Supporting the mission of the Army Public Health Center, Health Promotion and Wellness, and Clinical Public Health & Epidemiology Directorates. In my new role, I will be applying epidemiologic and statistical methods to the analysis of physiologic, physical fitness, and medical data of relevance to military populations.

  • Science Officer

    Dec 2022 - now

  • Biostatistician

    Jan 2022 - Dec 2022