Brian McDonough is an Irish-American physician, writer, and media personality in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the author of four books including Talking Health with Dr. Brian McDonough. McDonough is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine and Chairman of the Family Medicine Department at St. Francis Healthcare, Wilmington, DE. McDonough is also known for his work in information technology. He serves as Chief Medical Information Officer at Saint Francis Hospital. McDonough has received awards including: Family Physician of The Year, National Medical Broadcaster of The Year, The Sir William Osler Award for Bedside Teaching, and is an inductee in The Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame. He is a Fellow of The American Academy of Family Physicians and The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and has earned both The Health IT Leadership Certificate and the degree of Certified Physician Executive from The American College of Physician Executives. McDonough can be presently heard on many radio stations in the United States. In addition to the daily feature reports heard throughout the United States, he serves as Medical Editor at KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia and 1010 WINS in New York City. Among his honors, he has won four Emmy Awards over a twenty-year span working with Fox Television. He also has appeared as a contributor to NBC's Today Show. Dr. McDonough is host of "Primary Care Today" on ReachMD. McDonough is a dual citizen of both the United States and Ireland. He speaks nationally and internationally on topics in healthcare as well as healthcare informatics.
Early life and education
McDonough grew up outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in an area known as the Main Line. He attended Archbishop Carroll High School in Radnor, PA and upon graduation earned a Christian Brothers Scholarship to La Salle University where he graduated with honors as a Biology-English Major. After graduation he attended Temple UniversitySchool of Medicine. It was during medical school that McDonough began working in the media accepting an internship at KYW-TV, then NBC affiliate in Philadelphia. McDonough was winner of "The Irish Scholarship" to Temple Medical School. McDonough completed his residency in Family Medicine at Saint Francis Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware an affiliate of The Temple University School of Medicine and completed a Fellowship in Faculty Development one year later at Temple. During his Fellowship year he first hosted "The Dr Brian McDonough Program" on WRTI-FM. He continued to host the weekly talk show for twenty years syndicated by Coast to Coast Networks.
Career
McDonough is Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at Temple University School of Medicine, where he has served since 1988. From 1993 to 1995 he was Acting Vice-Chairman of Family Medicine. McDonough's primary clinical role is at Saint Francis Hospital where he has been Chairman of Family Medicine since 2008. He has been a member of the Family Medicine Residency faculty since 1993. McDonough has published four books and numerous articles during those years for both professional publications and the general public. From 2010 to 2016 he served on the Saint Francis Hospital Board of Directors. McDonough accepted the role of Chief Medical Information Officer in 2010 at Saint Francis Hospital. His initial work focused on the development of an Ambulatory platform. McDonough and his colleagues in Family Medicine helped incorporate the Allscripts platform into their practice and have used the tool to help with patient care, medical education and meeting meaningful use metrics. McDonough has publicly credited his faculty and their work as the major reason the team earned several prestigious awards for their exceptional use of Allscripts. As a result of this recognition and his extensive experience in medical communications, Dr. McDonough's lectures educating physicians about the positive uses of the electronic health record have been popular nationwide. In 2013, McDonough was asked to present the prestigious View From The Top lecture at HIMSS in New Orleans. In 2015, McDonough began working with Trinity Health and Cerner to help develop an inpatient "Model System" called Compass. The platform went live on March 31, 2017 and incorporates standardized order sets and pharmacy as developed by Trinity Health. Saint Francis was selected by Trinity because it was seen as the ideal "alpha site" to launch Compass throughout the Trinity Health Care system. McDonough continues to practice in both the ambulatory and inpatient setting with the goal of having informatics expertise in both areas to maximize the potential for population health and transition of care. In addition to his role as CMIO, he serve as Co-Chairman of the Trinity Health Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and is a supporter of evidence based decisions for the development of medication formularies.
Broadcasting
McDonough is entering his thirtieth year as Medical Editor at KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia and his twenty-first year in a similar role at 1010 WINS in New York City which is the most listened to station in the United States. His reports are heard daily in those markets and he comments on breaking health news when needed. He is syndicated on over two hundred radio stations. McDonough worked from 1989 to 2008 for Fox Television and in the mid-1990s was a medical correspondent for NBC Today Show. He left broadcast television to develop his career in health informatics, but since 2014 he has hosted a radio program on ReachMD called Primary Care Today aimed at Family Physicians. He also is host of What Your Patients Are Talking About for ReachMD. Dr. McDonough still appears periodically on network television news programs as an expert in the areas of primary care, sports medicine and population health. During his career he earned four Emmy Awards and was cited for his coverage of the September 11 terror attack in New York City. In an interview he called this his most emotional and important story. He also commented that his most odd broadcasting story was being forced into duty to describe the OJ Simpson car chase.
Awards and honors
McDonough is a four-time Emmy Award winner. He has been named DAFP Family Physician of The Year and is a member of the Broadcast Hall of Fame. In 1996 McDonough earned the Jules Bergman Award as National Medical Broadcaster of the Year. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by his alma mater, LaSalle University, for his accomplishments in the medical field. He is a Blockley-Osler Award winner for his work in medical resident and student education.
Personal life
McDonough has been married since 1991 and has three children.
