Dr. Louis Anthony Whitworth, MD

Louis (Tony) Whitworth, M.D., a specialist in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery (SFN) at UT Southwestern Medical Center, cant remember a time when he wasnt planning to become a doctor. He grew up in Fresno, Calif., the son of a physician and a nurse, and early on he showed outstanding promise for medicine. He earned his degree in molecular and cellular biology at the University of CaliforniaBerkeley, graduating with honors. He then attended medical school at Tulane University. Initially, his plan was to become a cardiologist. But that changed when he did a medical school rotation in neurosurgery, and it was SFN that caught his attention: the first neurosurgeon he worked with was a specialist in the field. "I thought SFN was fascinating," Dr. Whitworth recalls, "and thats what got me interested in neurosurgery in the first place."

Dr. Whitworth completed his residency in neurosurgery at the University of Tennessee Memphis, serving an extra year as Chief Resident. Through his …training, he remained intrigued by the power of deep-brain stimulation (DBS) and related SFN techniques, and from 2002 to 2003 he completed an SFN fellowship at Oregon Health Sciences University. He then joined the faculty of UT Southwestern, where he has continued his outstanding record of achievement. Since 2006, Dr. Whitworth has served as Associate Program Director of UT Southwesterns Neurological Surgery residency, making him one of the physicians directing the training of future neurosurgeons. In 2008, he earned a dual appointment, becoming Assistant Professor of both Neurological Surgery and Radiation Oncology. Now an Associate Professor, he continues to hold this uncommon honor. Named one of the "Best Doctors in America" for 2011-2012, Dr. Whitworth is currently conducting cutting-edge clinical research in the use of DBS for depression. He also studies its applications in patients who have epilepsy that isnt well-controlled by medications. He has published five book chapters on neurosurgical topics, as well as multiple papers on spinal cord stimulation and ablation for back pain, vagus nerve stimulation for depression, and sacral nerve root stimulation for pelvic pain. He has held skill labs for fellow neurosurgeons wishing to learn about implantable pain therapies and been an invited speaker on topics in FNS and pain management at conferences across the United States and Canada.