James M. Donahue, MD
Dr. James M. Donahue is a thoracic surgeon at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. He treats patients diagnosed with lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and other thoracic malignancies. He is the Section Chief of Thoracic Surgery and the James H. Estes Family Endowed Chair for Lung Cancer Research.
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]
Dr. Donahue is now a thoracic oncologist at the University of Alabama, Birmingham Hospital. He leads the thoracic surgery department and treats lung cancer, esophageal cancer, lung nodules, mediastinal tumors, malignant pleural effusions, pneumothorax, and other thoracic conditions.
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.
Dr. Donahue is a former Navy reservist, and his service included the application of his surgical skills during deployment in Afghanistan in 2013. He currently sees patients as a staff thoracic surgeon at the Birmingham VA Medical Center.
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]
