Dr. John McDonald focuses his practice on planning and implementing international patent strategy for clients engaged in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. He represents early stage, private and publicly traded companies. He regularly conducts intellectual property due diligence studies for clients including freedom to operate, validity and patentability opinions.

Dr. McDonald joined the faculty of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Emory University School of Medicine where he later became a tenured full professor. During his tenure at Emory, his research studies in peptide neuroendocrinology, neuroscience and endocrinology were funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. He is currently an Emeritus Professor at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. McDonald also conducted research studies in pancreatic endocrinology at the Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and in neurobiology at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta.

Dr. McDonald is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in 2015 and each of the four years immediately preceding. He was named a 2015 "Atlanta Lawyer of the Year" in the area of Biotechnology Law by The Best Lawyers in America®. Dr. McDonald is recognized as a Georgia "Super Lawyer" in the area of Intellectual Property in 2014 and the three years immediately preceding by Super Lawyers magazine. He received the Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. McDonald also received the Basil O'Connor Scholar Research Award from the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation as well as the Annual Basmajian/Williams & Wilkins Award for outstanding research and teaching from the American Association of Anatomists. He is AV® rated by Martindale-Hubbell.