Dr. McDonald is a distinguished physician and scientist, one of the nation's most accomplished and most productive experts in the field of electronic health record systems. He was previously Regenstrief Professor of Medical Informatics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Director of the Regenstrief Institute for Health Care, a privately endowed research institute internationally renowned for the study of health-care quality and economic issues. Dr. McDonald developed the Regenstrief Medical Record system and directed its use in clinical trials that have illuminated the ways in which electronic records can improve patient care. He created the Indiana Patient Care Network, now considered a national model for regional health information exchange.

Dr. McDonald is an international pioneer in the development of health data standards. He directed an NLM-funded informatics training center at Indiana University. He has been the recipient of many research grants and contracts from NLM, other NIH components, other federal agencies, and several foundations. He was also one of the founders of the HL7 standards organization and is the developer of Logical Observation Identifiers, Names, Codes (LOINC), an identification system for tests and results that is a US clinical data standard and also used in many other countries.

Dr. McDonald is a member of the Institute of Medicine and recipient of the Morris Collen Award of the American College of Medical Informatics, among many other honors. He currently serves on the Board of the American College of Physicians. He is a past-President the American Medical Informatics Association and a past member of the NLM Board of Regents.