Jobyna Whiting, MD, is a spinal neurosurgeon at Baptist Health South Florida in Coral Gables and director of degenerative spine surgery at Miami Neuroscience Institute.
Five things to know:
1. Dr. Whiting is known for taking on complex spine cases. One of those was a 38-year-old woman who had back pain and arm numbness after having her first child, according to an Aug. 25 profile. Dr. Whiting diagnosed a serious abnormality and performed an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion at the cervical 5 to cervical 6 levels, and the woman was pain-free.
2. Dr. Whiting is an advocate for female spine and neurosurgeons, and she's an active mentor.
"There are many patients out there who just feel a little more comfortable as a female patient interacting with a female surgeon," she said in a profile.
3. Dr. Whiting previously worked in a private practice in Orlando, Fla., and was an assistant professor of clinical neurosurgery at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City.
4. She received her medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed her residency at University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville.
5. During her residency, she received several awards including the Charles "Chuck" Shank Award in Neurosurgical Excellence and the Sherry Apple Resident Travel Award for an outstanding resident abstract at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons' annual meeting.