Whitley Williams Bankhead serves as Director of Sports Medicine: Administration and Medical Operations at Samford University, where she oversees the administrative, operational, and healthcare infrastructure of the athletics Sports Medicine department. In her role, she leads department policy and procedure development, risk management initiatives, insurance coordination, and physician clinic operations. She also oversees departmental coordination and interdisciplinary partnerships both within the university and throughout the Birmingham healthcare community. Additionally, Whitley serves as the athletics representative on the Samford CARES team, helping coordinate communication and support strategies for high-risk student-athletes. She oversees the healthcare for both the cross country and men’s tennis programs at Samford.
In addition to her collegiate athletics responsibilities, she serves on the Sports Medicine staff for the NFL’s East-West Shrine Bowl as Head Athletic Trainer. She joined the staff in January 2020 for the 95th East-West Shrine Bowl and continues to serve annually. Bankhead also serves on the Executive Council for the Alabama Athletic Trainers' Association as At-Large One and chairs the Collegiate and Professional Athletic Trainers
Committee. She is additionally a member of the Southeast Athletic Trainers' Association Collegiate Athletic Trainers Committee.
Prior to joining Samford in 2021, Whitley served as Assistant Athletic Trainer at Furman University from 2017-2021, where she provided healthcare coverage for the football program and co-ed cheerleading squad. She completed her Athletic Training Fellowship at Furman in 2017 while working with the men’s lacrosse program and assisting with football coverage.
She holds several professional certifications and licenses, including Licensed Athletic Trainer (LAT) through the Alabama Board of Athletic Trainers, Certified Athletic Trainer (ATC) through the Board of Certification, and American Heart Association CPR/AED for Healthcare Providers certification. She is also certified in Dry Needling, QPR Suicide Prevention, and Professional Yoga Therapy in Medical Therapeutic Yoga.
Whitley earned her Master of Business Administration with concentrations in Sports Administration and Data Analytics from Samford University. She also earned her Master of Science in Athletic Training from The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she completed her graduate assistantship with the football program. She received her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology with a minor in Psychology from Auburn University in 2013.
A native of Bridgeport, Alabama, she resides in Birmingham with her husband, Damion Bankhead.
