Jay MacDonald, MD
Past-President

Jay MacDonald is a physician member of the Hyperbaric Medicine Team at Hamilton General Hospital. He earned his medical degree from the University of Toronto, and completed his residency at McMaster University in Emergency Medicine. Throughout his training, Jay placed an emphasis on Hyperbaric, Critical Care and Environmental Medicine. Prior to his medical training, Jay completed his Master’s and PhD in Medical Science (Physiology and Pharmacology) at McMaster University. A portion of his comprehensive examinations focused on the role of hyperbaric oxygen in carbon monoxide poisoning.

Following his PhD, he spent time at Stanford University as a Post Doctoral Fellow working with the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine Team. During this time he conducted research focused on high altitude medicine. The culmination of this work included two months atop Pike’s Peak studying the physiological effects of altitude.

Jay’s medical and research career led him to be one of the top 25 candidates selected from an applicant pool of 5500 in Canada’s 2008-2009 Astronaut Recruitment Campaign.

As a competitive sailor, Jay’s interests in hyperbaric medicine stem from his combined love of the water, and physiology.