James M. Donahue, MD
Dr. James M. Donahue is a thoracic surgeon and oncologist who is committed to improving outcomes for patients diagnosed with lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and other thoracic malignancies. As Section Chief of Thoracic Surgery and the James H. Estes Family Endowed Chair for Lung Cancer Research at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, his specialties are cardiac surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and thoracic surgery.
Dr. Donahue is a former Navy reservist, and his service included application of his surgical skills during deployment in Afghanistan in 2013. His areas of clinical interest include lung and esophageal cancer surgery; chest wall surgery; tracheal resection and reconstruction; mediastinal tumors; outcomes research; airway disorders; lung nodules; chest wall tumors; malignant pleural effusions; and pneumothorax.[1]
Education and Career
Dr. Donahue began his professional career by earning a bachelor of science in Pre-Medicine/Pre-Medical Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He earned his medical degree at Harvard Medical School, then pursued an internship and residency in General Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Following completion of this education, he pursued an additional residency in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science in Rochester, Minnesota.
Dr. Donahue is board-certified in Surgery and Thoracic Surgery. Following completion of his residencies, he was a thoracic surgical oncologist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. While there he served as the associate program director for the University of Maryland cardiothoracic surgical residency program and as chief of thoracic surgery at the Baltimore VA Medical Center.[1]
In addition to his role as section chief of thoracic surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Dr. Donahue is an Associate Professor of Surgery and Cardiovascular/Thoracic Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. He is a fellow in the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Association of Cancer Research and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
Research
In addition to his surgical interests, Dr. Donahue runs a basic science research laboratory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The lab is focused on studying post-transcriptional gene regulation in esophageal cancer cells as a way of identifying new therapeutic targets for the management of this disease.[1]
