[1] McDonough resigned in November 1997 to accept a teaching position at Brandeis University.

In 2010, he was the Joan Tisch Distinguished Fellow in Public Health at Hunter College in New York City.

[4] McDonough is the author of three books: Inside National Health Reform, published by the University of California Press and the Milbank Fund in 2011; Experiencing Politics: A Legislator's Stories of Government and Health Care published by the University of California Press and the Milbank Fund in 2000, and Interests, Ideas, and Deregulation: the Fate of Hospital Rate Setting published by the University of Michigan Press in 1998.

He has written numerous op-ed articles for the Kaiser News Service, the Boston Globe, and other publications.

He is the author of a regular blog on the Boston Globe website, boston.com, called Health Stew.