Biography
Graduated from Medical School at University College Dublin (UCD) in 1962, with in addition an MSc in Physiology from University College Cork (1965), and a higher doctorate in Medicine (PhD equivalent) from UCD 1969. From 1966 to 1969 I completed Residencies In Internal Medicine in various London Hospitals that Included 2 years of Gastroenterology and Liver Disease at the Royal Free Hospital. I then completed a further 2-year GI Fellowship in Gastroenterology at the University of California San Francisco (1970-2), following which I was appointed as Assistant Professor of Medicine there from 1972-1974. From 1974 to 1980 I was in charge of clinical research in the Digestive Diseases Branch of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. In 1980, I was appointed as a Professor of Medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in Albuquerque . I have served there, and as a Staff Gastroenterologist at the VA Medical Center in Albuquerque, from 1980 to the present.
Personal Statement
With a strong background in basic sciences, I chose to spend my life as a clinician, an educator, and an academic physician with a base in Clinical Research. Working mostly at the VA Medical Center, and largely free from financial constraints in my clinical activities, I have been free to devote a major portion of my energies to education, and since 1980 I have been constantly involved in the formation and growth of UNM?s Fellowship Training Program in Gastro enterology and Liver Disease, directing the program for about half of this time. Using the VA as a base, I developed, through various talented trainees and faculty, the first US center concerned with Outcomes Research in Gastroenterology, published the first formal educational curriculum for GI Training in the USA, and with the aid of numerous faculty colleagues established a fellowship program with a national reputation for providing excellent clinical training. From an educational perspective I sought out a role as an interpreter who brought scientific knowledge from the laboratory to enrich education and training in clinical medicine. Recognition in this area led to my being editor for the GI section of the educational program of the American College of Physicians for MKSAP VIII and MKSAP IX, and to organizing the Clinical Practice Section's program for the annual National Digestive Diseases Week for four years. I continue to strive for educational excellence in our training program at UNM and have run regular Case Conferences from 1980 to the present: these are edited by me and published monthly by fellow authors in the journal Digestive Diseases and Sciences.
Areas of Specialty
#1. Intestinal Enzymology and Adaptation. #2. Drug therapy of acid-peptic diseases Including Peptic Ulcer and Gastroesophageal Reflux . #3. Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome , Gastrin and Gut hormones. #4. Non-Steroidal and other drug injury to the GI Tract. #5. long-term Side effects of Proton pump Inhibitors.
Certifications
None from US Bodies. Numerous European credentials grandfathered/accepted in USA in 1970.
Achievements & Awards
University College, Dublin, Entrance Scholarship (Mathematics, Physics), 1955 Undergraduate Scholarships (1959, ?60, ?61, ?62) Medical Faculty UCD Gold Medal in Medicine, Mater Hospital, Dublin, 1962 UCD Medical Society?s Gold Medal for Debate, 1960 Gold Medal (Obstetrics) Irish National Maternity Hospital, 1962 National University of Ireland, Traveling Studentship (Physiology), 1965, Fellow of the Medical Society of London, 1967 U.S. National Commission on Digestive Diseases Gastroduodenal Disease Section 1976-1978 Fellow of American College of Physicians (F.A.C.P.) Nov. 1974 Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (F.R.C.P.I.) 1975 President Western Gut Club1983-84 Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London (F.R.C.P) 1998 American Gastroenterological Association, Distinguished Mentorship Award 2005 American Gastroenterological Association Fellow 2006 Selected to deliver numerous State of the Art Lectures at Digestive Diseases Week (DDW), the annual national meetings in Digestive Diseases. Invited for numerous drug advisory committees of USFDA and delegated to give USFDA's Special Lecture (webcast) to the pharmaceutical industry on "?Predicting NSAID Complications: Use of surrogates versus outcomes?. November 4th, 2010.
Languages
- English
Courses Taught
Regular participant for about 15 years in the "GI Block" of lectures to medical students. For the first 2 years of the Problem Based Learning Curriculum I lectured all the tutors on the topics/cases for the following week.
Research and Scholarship
1. Identified that intestinal mucosal adaptation to resection or injury was due to hyperplasia not hypertrophy. McCarthy DM and Kim YS. Changes in sucrase, enterokinase and peptide hydrolases following intestinal resection: The association of cellular hyperplasia and adaptation. J. Clin. Invest. 52; 4: 942-951, 1973. 2. Showed that treatment of Zollinger Ellison Syndrome could be achieved medically in: McCarthy DM. Report on the United States Experience with Cimetidine in Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome and other hypersecretory states. Gastroenterology 1978: 75,2: 453-458., AND that total Gastrectomy was no longer mandatorily indicated: McCarthy DM. The place of surgery in the Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome. New Engl. J. Med 1980; 302 (24):1344-48. #3. Described the importance of deficiency in trace metals occurring during parenteral nutrition: McCarthy DM, May RJ, Maher M, and Brennan MF. Trace metal and essential fatty acid deficiency during total parenteral nutrition. Am J Dig Dis 1978; 23; 11: 1009-1015. #4.Published many papers on non-steroidal drug injury, mechanisms (McCarthy DM. Mechanisms of mucosal injury and healing: the role of NSAIDS. Scand. J. Gastro. 1995: 30(Suppl.208): 24-29.) and therapy ( McCarthy DM. Prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal symptoms and complications due to NSAIDs. In: Best Practice & Research: Clinical Gastroenterology 2001; 15(5); 755-773, Eds: J Rask-Madsen et al., Denmark #5. Current research on long-term effects of proton-pump inhibitor drug therapy e.g.as: McCarthy DM. Iron Deficiency Anemia due to Proton Pump Inhibitors: clinical impact revealed. Journal of Internal Medicine 2019; 285: 245-247 AND: McCarthy DM. Proton pump inhibitor use, Hypergastrinemia, and Gastric Carcinoids - What is the relationship? Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020; 21(2): 662; doi:10.3390/ijms21020662.