Dr. Margaret Baldwin will treat children at Nemours Children’s Hospital and in Lakeland

Dr. Margaret Baldwin has joined Nemours Children’s Health System as a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. In her new role, she will see patients at Nemours Children’s Specialty Care in Lakeland, as well as at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Lake Nona. Dr. Baldwin has the distinction of being the first female orthopedic surgeon for Nemours in Florida. Only 6 percent of board certified orthopedic surgeons are female, and she is excited to be a trailblazer at Nemours.

This isn’t Dr. Baldwin’s first experience with Nemours. She recently completed a fellowship at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, an experience she found so positive that she was inspired to find a permanent position with the children’s health system. When an opening was posted in Florida, she applied, saying the opportunity to stay within Nemours was too good to pass up. “The Nemours hospital in Delaware is one of the top centers in the country for work in Cerebral Palsy (CP), and I learned from the best doctors in that area,” said Baldwin. “The opportunity to stay with Nemours is exactly what I was looking for, so I can collaborate with everyone I did fellowship training with for surgeries and research ideas.”

Dr. Baldwin will treat children with a wide variety of orthopedic issues, including spine and neurodevelopmental disorders, spina bifida, and spinal muscular atrophy. She especially looks forward to continuing her work with patients with CP, a subspecialty in which she has done important research.

Baldwin says at the young age of 2, she already had clarity that she wanted to be a doctor, and announced this to her mother, who was as surprised and delighted as a mother can be, especially given that she didn’t have a doctor in her family to model.

She stuck with her plan and earned her M.D. at University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio after graduating with her bachelor’s in biophysics at Wake Forest University. It was during a residency at University of Oklahoma Health Science Center that Baldwin discovered a love for orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation.

“In my residency, I really enjoyed working with children and families to offer excellent care and make a difference in someone’s life,” she said.

“I look forward to serving my new communities of Orlando and Lakeland at Nemours,” Baldwin said.

Outside of work, Baldwin loves outdoor activities, including running, and looks forward to trying out new restaurants.