Education and Training

Dr. MacDonald studied medicine at Aberdeen University, Scotland and graduated in 2000 with MBChB. He also undertook a Bachelor of Science research degree in patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, graduating BSc (Hons) in 1998. He was accepted onto the prestigious Glasgow cardiology training program in 2008. In addition, he undertook a 3-year fellowship at the Scottish National Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Unit and was mentored by two of the founding fathers of modern heart failure therapies, Professor Henry Dargie and Professor John McMurray. Whilst there he undertook his second research degree on the relationship between diabetes and heart failure, graduating MD in 2011. He is experienced in the intricacies of managing complex heart failure cases and inherited cardiomyopathies including those requiring device and cardiac transplantation.

He developed a subspecialty interest in cardiac imaging and began a fellowship in cardiovascular MRI at Royal Brompton Hospital, London and in 2013 gained the top level of accreditation. He received his UK Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) in 2013 and was appointed as Consultant Cardiologist at Western Infirmary, Glasgow, UK.

Dr. MacDonald was head-hunted by Changi General Hospital (CGH) in 2015 and was integral in the development of their heart failure and cardiac imaging services. The heart failure programme in CGH was the only heart failure programme in Singapore to be awarded the coveted JCI accreditation.

With his extensive training and contributions to teaching and research in cardiology and heart failure, he was elected Member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) in 2004 and Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC) in 2010.

Research and Teaching

Dr. MacDonald has a strong track record in basic, epidemiological and clinical research. His first research degree examined the relationship between diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which was one of the catalysts for him entering into cardiology. He designed and obtained funding for the world’s first randomised trial examining the use of ablation in patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation. He presented this work as a late breaking clinical trial at the ESC Heart Failure Congress in 2010.

Dr. MacDonald’s primary research interest is in the relationship between diabetes and heart failure, the subject of his research doctorate awarded in 2011. He is globally recognised for his work and has presented his work nationally and internationally. In recognition of his expertise in diabetes and heart failure, he was an invited panelist to the ESC Workshop on diabetic cardiomyopathy and was a keynote speaker at the Japanese Circulation Society.

Dr. MacDonald has published extensively in top journals and has been widely cited. He is a reviewer for high-impact journals including the Lancet and the European Heart Journal and regularly sits on committees for international large-scale randomised controlled trials. Dr. MacDonald was appointed Adjuvant Associate Professor by Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in 2019 and regularly teaches medical undergraduates.