Prior to his current role, Dr. Bailes was Chief of Cerebrovascular Surgery at Allegheny-West Penn Hospital System for ten years, subsequently serving for eleven years as the Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at West Virginia University School of Medicine, where he specialized in cerebrovascular disease, stroke, brain tumors and traumatic brain injury. 

Dr. Bailes is the immediate past chair of the AANS/CNS Joint Section on Neurotrauma and Critical Care. He has been instrumental in the understanding of the clinical evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive degenerative disease associated with multiple concussions and other forms of head injury. His research interests have focused on mechanisms and treatment of cerebral trauma, and his research team has received industry and NIH funding for TBI research.  

Dr. Bailes has been a neurological consultant to the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) since 1994. The organization has supported research on the effects of head injuries on professional athletes. He is currently on the NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee and NFLPA Mackey White Health and Safety Committee. Dr. Bailes has also been an advisor to the NCAA and is Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee for Pop Warner Football, the largest youth sports association in the US. 

In 2010, Dr. Bailes was inducted into the Louisiana State University Hall of Distinction, the highest honor awarded to an alumnus. In 2016, he was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and received the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award. He was also inducted into the Northwestern State University Long Purple Line the same year. In 2017, Dr. Bailes was named a Louisiana Legend by the Public Broadcasting System. Then, in 2018, he received the Career Achievement Award from the National Headache Foundation and the Golden Football Award for service to youth sports by Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc.

Dr. Bailes has over 300 scientific publications concerning various aspects of neurological surgery, including five books on neurological sports medicine, and performs editorial duties for several medical journals. He has been honored as one of the nation’s best surgeons for ten consecutive years in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Doctors” and was selected by Chicago Magazine as a Chicago top neurosurgeon from 2014-2020.  He has been a sideline physician at the NFL or NCAA level for the last 28 years.