For Immediate Release

Well-known Neurosurgeon Joins Mercy

Oklahoma City — Well-known neurosurgeon Benjamin White, M.D., assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine for the past seven years, joins Mercy Health Center.

“We are extremely pleased to have Dr. White, an expert in the surgical treatment of degenerative conditions of the spine and speaker at many national and international neurosurgical meetings, as a part of the Mercy team,” said Diana Smalley, president and CEO of Mercy Health System of Oklahoma. “He will provide surgical treatment of brain aneurysms and complex spinal surgery expertise to our Mercy patients.”

Dr. White graduated summa cum laude with an undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Oklahoma in 1990, and later completed a medical degree at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Before becoming board certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery, Dr. White performed an internship and residency in neurological surgery at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

During Dr. White’s tenure at OU, he was integrally involved in resident education, clinical and basic science research, as well as having an active clinical practice. Dr. White specializes in complex spinal surgery—herniated discs, spinal reconstruction, deformity correction and spinal fusions and instrumentation. His expertise in intracranial surgery also includes microsurgery of intracranial, arteriovenous malformations and brain tumors.

Dr. White holds multiple professional memberships including: American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), American Medical Association, Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) and Oklahoma State Medical Association. He is also active at the local, national and international levels of the CNS and AANS, having served on the scientific program committees of both. He has also served as chair of the AANS international advisory committee.

Press release dated: May 22, 2007

Mercy Health Center, the first Magnet hospital in Oklahoma and among only 3 percent of hospitals in the nation to be awarded Magnet status, is a member of Mercy Health System of Oklahoma and the Sisters of Mercy Health System. Magnet-designated facilities: report higher patient satisfaction rates, deliver better patient outcomes, provide more nursing care at the bedside of patients and consistently outperform non-magnet organizations.