Jan. 10, 2018 –
Southeast Georgia Physician Associates-Neurosciences, a strategic affiliate of Southeast Georgia Health System, is pleased
to welcome
Justin S. Whitlow, M.D., board-certified neurosurgeon, to the practice and to the Health System’s
Brunswick Campus medical staff.
Whitlow explains that most patients he treats come to him with a combination
of neck and back pain, neck and arm pain or back and leg pain. While neurosciences
covers a broad spectrum of conditions the most common causing such nerve
pain include herniated, bulging or ruptured discs; pinched nerves leading
to numbness; spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal which results
in pressure on the spinal cord; and spondylolisthesis, or a slippage in
the spine where one bone slips in front of another causing nerve pain.
“Nerve pain is very specific and follows a distinct pattern or pathway,”
explains Whitlow. “By listening to my patients and asking the right
questions, they will tell me what is wrong. From there it is up to me
to help them understand what is causing their underlying pain, and explain
the different therapeutic, medication and/or surgical treatment options
available. By knowing the benefits of each option, together we can make
decisions on how best to help them and improve their lives.”
Whitlow also treats cranial conditions including brain tumors, hematomas
and a condition called chiari malformation, a defect at the base of the
skull and the cerebellum. It was observing his first neurosurgery for
chiari malformation that confirmed his decision to specialize in neurosurgery.
“I grew up very science minded and always planned on being a doctor,”
says Whitlow. “Because my mom was the director of an operating room,
I started watching surgeries when I was in junior high school. After college
I worked in retirement centers and thought I would specialize in geriatrics.
That was until I was paired with an orthopaedic spine surgeon. I would
see patients before surgery who were in such pain that it made grown men
and women cry, but two weeks after surgery they would feel normal.”
Whitlow received his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Wichita
State University in Wichita, Kansas, and earned his doctorate from the
University of South Florida, College of Medicine in Tampa, Florida. Following
that, he completed a surgical internship and neurosurgery residency at
the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.
Most recently, Whitlow worked for Salina Regional Neurosurgery, a general
neurosurgery practice affiliated with Salina Regional Health Center in
Salina, Kansas. Joining the Health System and moving his family to Southeast
Georgia was prompted by a desire to work for a smaller, regional hospital
in a community that offered good schools and cultural opportunities. He
says the Golden Isles checked all those boxes.
Appointments are available with a physician’s referral. For more
information, call Southeast Georgia Physician Associates-Neurosciences
at 912-466-5443. The office is located at 2500 Starling St., Suite 403,
in Brunswick.