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Michael D. McGoon, MD: Guiding
Light for PHA Scientific Leadership Council and Proponent
of New Research
 As
the paradigm of treatment in pulmonary hypertension (PH)
is poised to shift, the Scientific Leadership Council
of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) will drive
advances in therapy. The Council plays an integral role
in research efforts and has assumed the daunting task
of spearheading new multicenter clinical trials as strategies
to alter the course of disease move from the bench to
the bedside. One of the catalysts behind that effort is
Michael D. McGoon, MD, current chair of the Council, whose
guidance and exemplary leadership has earned him wide
recognition in the pulmonary hypertension community.
McGoon’s energy and enthusiasm for advancing treatment
of the disease quickly become apparent as he speaks about
the job that lies ahead. “There’s a paradigm
shift in treatment, we’re moving beyond vasodilators
to a different focus where we will be exploring having
an impact on disordered angiogenesis and cell proliferation.
We need to find ways of getting independently funded studies,
through PHA, and optimize our sources of funding through
government support. I anticipate we will focus more on
genetic factors, the remodeling of blood vessels, the
overgrowth of blood vessels, and the type of information
being transmitted from one cell to another,” he
said, providing a glimpse of some of the areas to be discussed
during the Scientific Session of PHA in Miami, June 24-25.
For McGoon, the challenge underlying these discussions
is part and parcel of his long-standing commitment to
promoting research to find a cure for the disease. It
began during his early years when he was a fellow in cardiovascular
research at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. He
traces that interest in PH to the early 1980s, when he
worked with Ron Vlietstra, MD, one of the consultants
in cardiovascular disease whose work with hydralazine
and ketanserin in patients with PH led McGoon to further
explore the use of vasodilators in the disease. “While
I was still a fellow, Dr Vlietstra introduced me to some
of the great vascular biology researchers. This included
spending a year in the laboratory of Dr. Paul Vanhoutte
when he was at Mayo.” Following the development
of prostacyclin, McGoon
sought participation in the early trials of that drug.
A graduate of Harvard College, McGoon earned his medical
degree at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
and completed his residency at the Mayo Clinic College
of Medicine where he is Professor of Medicine. He is also
Consultant in the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases
and Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic.
What pulled him into the clinical arena of PH? “It
was a whole organism interest, the complexity of the disease,
its impact on the patient’s overall health and ability
to cope with life. Given the fact that there was no effective
treatment at the time, it gave me the opportunity to participate
in exploring what avenues might lead to better outcomes.”
Through his work with prostacyclin, McGoon found likeminded
clinicians similarly focused on finding an effective treatment
for PH. “Clearly, the early investigational work
on what became Flolan created a community both at Mayo
and elsewhere of clinicians and investigators that now
constitutes the core of much PH investigation. We all
grew in our approach to the disease and I felt from the
beginning that my involvement with the group and PHA provided
a venue for my interest to solidify.
“Getting involved with PHA’s Scientific Advisory
Board (now the Scientific Leadership Council) gave me
and others the chance to make more of a tangible contribution
on a day to day basis to patients within an organizational
structure,” he added. As McGoon took on more of
a leadership role within the Council, he was named chairperson
and turned his attention to the upcoming PHA meeting where
a scientific session will be held for the first time.
This session will be held immediately prior to the patient-oriented
sessions. “This will usher in greater participation
by physicians and investigators.” It will be a departure
from the previous meetings where physicians responded
to questions from patients but did not have a venue per
se for scientific presentations and discussions. Looking
beyond the meeting to new multicenter clinical trials
organized through the PHA Scientific Leadership Council,
McGoon envisions a bright future where basic research
concepts will be increasingly applied in the clinical
arena. The Scientific Sessions will provide impetus to
that effort. “The goal of the sessions is to hear
from the experts about the main avenues of fruitful inquiry
into mechanisms of the disease.” But, he emphasizes,
the mission cannot be accomplished without funding—that
“it has to be
done in a collective fashion with a voice through PHA
and the Council that will give validity to the need for
research-based funding.”
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