Pelvic pain expert divides myth and reality in Murphy Lecture

Dr. John S. McDonald, medical director of the Pain Center for Women’s Health in Los Angeles and a widely respected expert on pelvic pain, will present the fourth annual Terence M. Murphy Memorial Lecture later this month. He will speak on “Pelvic Pain: Unraveling the Mystery and Putting an End to the Myth of ‘The Pain Is in Your Head’ “ at 5 p.m., Tuesday, June 20, in room T-639 of the Health Sciences Center. The lecture is free and open to everyone.

The lectureship honors Dr. Terence M. Murphy, who was a faculty member in the School of Medicine’s Department of Anesthesiology from 1971 until his death in 1996. Murphy was an internationally recogniaed clinician and teacher who made major contributions to the field of pain medicine and anesthesia. The annual lectureship is funded by public contributions.

McDonald, this year’s speaker, chaired the Department of Anesthesiology at Ohio State University for almost 20 years and was also director of the Pain Center there. He moved to southern California in 1998. In addition to his position at the Pain Center for Women’s Health, he is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at both UCLA and the University of California, Irvine. He is also clinical professor of anesthesiology at UC Irvine.

McDonald earned his medical degree from the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 1964. He has been active in national and international pain medicine for many years. ¶