Dr. Jean Paul Wolinsky, one of the country’s leading authorities in spinal oncology recently joined the faculty at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine as Professor of Neurosurgery. Dr. Wolinsky is the Director for Spinal Oncology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.   He comes to Northwestern from Johns Hopkins Medicine where he was Professor of Neurosurgery and Clinical Director of the Johns Hopkins Neurosurgery Spine Program.

Dr. Jean Paul Wolinsky received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine where he also completed his training in neurosurgery. In addition to general neurosurgical training, he also gained extensive trauma experience at the Ben Taub Hospital, one of the world’s largest trauma hospitals.  He also received specialized training in neurosurgical oncology at the MD Anderson Cancer Hospital.  After his neurosurgical residency, he completed an AO Spine Fellowship in complex reconstructive spine surgery and spinal oncology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital with Dr. Ziya Gokaslan.

Dr. Wolinsky’s primary neurosurgical interests lie in spinal oncology, pathology of the occipital-cervical junction, and complex spinal reconstructions.  He has been actively developing new approaches to spinal surgery and advancing the field of spinal reconstruction.  While at Johns Hopkins, he was  the Co-Director of the Carnegie Center for Surgical innovation (http://carnegie.jhu.edu), a nationally recognized facility for research, education, and translation in imaging and image-guided interventions. Dr. Wolinsky has been a faculty of AO North America and AO International since 2006 and has mentored generations of neurosurgical residents into academic careers at premier institutions around the country. 

A prolific scholar, Dr. Wolinsky has published over 200 primary, peer reviewed research articles pertaining to advances in spinal oncology and reconstruction. He has extensively lectured both nationally and internationally in this area and has chaired numerous courses, programs, and educational activities around the world to promote neurosurgical education as it pertains to the care of patients with primary and metastatic spinal cord tumors. He is a member of numerous professional organizations and has served on national and international committees which develop guidelines as they pertain to the care of spine patients.