Consultant Neurosurgeon and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer

Qualified with Distinction in Clinical Medicine in 1987 from the University of Southampton. He undertook Basic Surgical Training in Glasgow and Winchester before moving to Cambridge in 1993. He incorporated a MRC sponsored PhD into his training and became a Consultant Neurosurgeon in Aberdeen in 2000. He moved to Plymouth in 2002.

Mr Whitfield is involved in the training of medical students and young surgeons. He is an examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons of England and is an elected member of the Specialists Advisory Committee for Neurosurgery. He is also the surgical editor for the “Advances in Clinical Neurosciences and Rehabilitation.”

Mr Whitfield’s practice can be divided into 4 broad components. 1) Clinical lead for the neurovascular service (intracranial aneurysms and AVMs – including stereotactic radiosurgery); 2) Procedures for brain tumours including Gliomas, glioblastomas, metastatic tumours, meningiomas (stereotactic microsurgery and stereotactic radiosurgery); 3) Microneurosurgical operations for degenerative lumbar and cervical disc disease (this forms a large component of his elective practice) and 4) Management of patients with traumatic brain injury and hydrocephalus.

Mr Whitfield examines Applied Basic Sciences, clinical skills and communication skills for the Intercollegiate MRCS and also has expertise in the application of evidence based medicine to practical clinical problems (author of a Cochrane Review). These are both areas that he considers important in the management of individual patients