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Paediatric resident brings problem-solving mindset to patient care
By Emily Leighton
A co-op placement set Dr. Alexandra McDonald on a path from mathematics to paediatrics
By Emily Leighton
The summer Dr. Alexandra McDonald, MD’22, spent at SickKids in Toronto, Ont. was meant to be about statistics.
A mathematics undergraduate, she was there on a co-op placement to analyze paediatric data. But watching the physicians and nurses caring for children made a lasting impression.
“I realized I didn’t want to be the person sitting behind the computer,” she said. “I wanted to be on the other side of the desk, working with children in the clinic.”
This realization set her on a new professional path, leading her to Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, where she completed medical school and continues to train as a fourth-year paediatrics resident.
Born and raised in Mississauga, Ont., McDonald spent much of her youth working with kids. Summers were spent as a camp counsellor at an overnight camp; winters on the ice as a competitive figure skater who later coached younger athletes.
“Working with children was always a common theme in my life,” she said. “I just didn’t know what that would look like longer term.”
Dr. Alexandra McDonald in a family waiting area at London Health Sciences Centre's Children's Hospital. (Megan Morris/Schulich Medicine & Dentistry)
Medicine brought her varied interests together – the analytical, problem-solving she loved about math combined with the fulfillment of caring for patients and their families.
Paediatrics was the next natural step.
Early on, she assumed the specialty would be filled with the energy, joy and curiosity of working with children. But clinical training introduced her to something more complex.
“We don’t always get the happiness, the smiles,” she said. “Sometimes there are disappointing outcomes or challenging moments. But I get to see this incredible side of kids. They are so resilient.”
At Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, McDonald encountered a tight-knit learning community, which only deepened as she pursued her residency training.
“The team here really makes an effort to know you – they invest in teaching you and they want you to see the interesting cases,” she said. “Knowing that there are people looking out for you creates this really positive, supportive dynamic.”
Serving as co-chief resident last year, she represented her peers at the department level, advocating for resident needs and contributing to program decision-making. The experience pushed her into a leadership role she hadn’t originally imagined for herself.
"It was a huge learning experience,” she said. “It gave me the confidence to step up and advocate for my fellow residents in a meaningful way.”
Alongside her clinical training, McDonald has pursued research focused on improving patient care – from studying how adolescents transition from paediatric to adult health systems to developing new clinical pathways for neonatal venous thrombosis, a condition that requires timely, coordinated care in vulnerable newborns.
This July, she begins a fellowship in neonatology at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry. She says the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit offers a unique setting where her inclination toward structured, logical thinking meets the creativity of individualized care.
“These babies have their whole lives ahead of them,” she said. “The decisions I make will be such a big part of their life story, and being a part of their earliest moments is incredibly meaningful.”