Poetry Rooms

The medical career of John M Macdonald MD, has been notably unconventional. After 30 years as a respected thoracic / vascular surgeon, he closed his surgical practice. Wound healing, clinical research and global medicine in resource poor nations renewed his vocation. Over the next 25 years, Haiti and West Africa became second homes. Poetry Rooms is a heritage gift to family and friends that may provide philosophical and spiritual insight to the question, "what was he thinking?". Communion that offers subconscious hints of doubt, reassurance and joy. Each room offering a poetic compass for emotions, hidden until the door is opened. Medicine for the soul, proscribed to remove shadows from the radiance of daily life.

Every dynamic family is sustained by values, intuitions and faith, passed from generation to generation. Such gifts come in the form of biographies, letters, photo albums and even dinner conversations. Historical representations of what was believed to be relevant, honest and alluring. Poetry is a cultural heritage gift, providing the magic of metaphor to help you understand yourself

John M Macdonald, MD, FACS, is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Notre Dame and his Medical Degree at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine. Internship served at Jackson Memorial Hospital, University of Miami. Military duty as Captain in the United States Air Force. Residency in general and thoracic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Fellowship in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery as Senior Registrar, St Bartholomew`s Hospital, London England. Dr. Macdonald is Board Certified in general surgery and thoracic surgery. From 1971 until 1999, he practiced thoracic and vascular surgery in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. Dr. Macdonald was the Chief of Surgery, Holy Cross Hospital, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida from 1988-1991. Over the past 25 years, Dr. Macdonald has been extensively involved in the clinical and research aspects of wound care and lymphedema. He has lectured extensively both in North America and internationally. Dr. Macdonald has authored numerous articles and text chapters relating to both lymphedema and wound related lymph stasis. In 2002 he was appointed to the faculty of the Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. In May 2014, at the Spring meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Wound Care, Dr. Macdonald received the 14th annual John Boswick Award for "Outstanding Lifetime Achievement in Wound Healing". In the first two days, post- earthquake, January 12, 2010, Dr. Macdonald established the wound care program in the University of Miami, Project Medishare, Haitian Relief Tent Hospital in Port-au-Prince. He served as Medical Director of this program, now located at Hospital Bernard Mevs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from 2011 until January 2021.