An Interview with Eleanor MacDonald, March 8, 1978, Part 1

An Interview with Eleanor MacDonald, March 8, 1978, Part 1

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Publication Date

3-8-1978

Disciplines

Oncology

Comments

Eleanor B. MacDonald

Video Interview with Don Macon: March 8, 1978

Series of Video Profiles

Segment 00A Interview Identifier [00:00 – 00:30]

Segment 01 Family Influences Lead to Medicine A: Personal Background; [00:30 – 8:10]

Story Codes: A: Educational Path; A: Character and Personal Philosophy; A: Inspirations to Practice Science/Medicine; A: Character, Values, Beliefs, Talents; A: Influences from People and Life Experiences; C: Formative Experiences;

Eleanor MacDonald discusses her family background. All of her sisters were involved in the medical field. She shares anecdotes about her sisters and father such as going on a family trip to New Hampshire and bundling up against the cold (pictures of her sisters are shown). Next, she discusses her mother’s death when she was 16 years old, and how this inspired her to switch her focus from music to medicine. She then shares how she got into statistics.

Segment 02 The Massachusetts Department of Public Health Principal Statistician A: Professional Path; [8:10 – 11:30]

Story Codes: A: Overview; A: Career and Accomplishments; A: View on Career and Accomplishments; A: Influences from People and Life Experiences; A: The Researcher; C: Evolution of Career; D: Cultural/Social Influences;

Ms. MacDonald was employed in the first cancer division in the country in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health as a Principal Statistician and Historian. She discusses social and cultural differences from the 30’s compared to 1978. Next, she explains the data she was working with at the time, then discusses taking the exam to be the Principal Statistician in the Department of Cancer Research in Connecticut. She then discusses her career accomplishments to date.

Segment 03 Transformational Experience Working in Connecticut A: Character and Personal Philosophy; [11:30 - 14:47]

Story Codes: A: Personal Background; A: Character, Values, Beliefs, Talents; A: Influences from People and Life Experiences; C: Formative Experiences;

Ms. MacDonald gives several anecdotes about her sister Mary who she lived with in Connecticut. Mary got many people to wait on her including the city bus driver who would wait for her to arrive even when she was late, a train engineer who would hold the train for her, hotel staff (of a nearby hotel) that called to wake her, and a taxi cab driver who would pick her up if all else failed to get her up on time.

Segment 04 A Chance Meeting Leads to Joining MD Anderson A: Joining MD Anderson/ Coming to Texas; [14:47 - 21:27]

Story Codes: A: Professional Path; A: Influences from People and Life Experiences; C: Formative Experiences; C: Evolution of Career;

Ms. MacDonald discusses meeting Dr. R. Lee Clark at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York where she worked weekends as a consultant. Dr. Clark met with her at her office and explained what they were doing at MD Anderson, their goals concerning cancer including the importance of radiotherapy, and how she could be involved. Ms. MacDonald then discusses presenting the paper ‘First Incident Figures’ from Connecticut in Texas at the Post Graduate Medical Assembly in 1947.

Segment 05 A Challenging Task: Developing the Cancer Registry for the Health Department for Cancer A: Professional Path; [21:27 – 23:05]

Story Codes: A: Contributions; A: Character and Personal Philosophy; A: The Researcher; A: Career and Accomplishments; A: View on Career and Accomplishments; C: Evolution of Career;

Ms. MacDonald discusses her work for the cancer registry for the Health Department for Cancer for the state of Connecticut. She explains the challenges and obstacles she faced such as having only one volunteer to aid her and an extremely limited budget. She then explains what her work on this project accomplished.

An Interview with Eleanor MacDonald, March 8, 1978, Part 1

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