Dr. Rothrock completed residency training in neurology at the University of Arizona and the joined the neurosciences faculty at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). Since leaving UCSD in 1994 as a full professor of clinical neurosciences he has served as chair of neurology and associate dean for clinical research at the University of South Alabama, as vice chair of neurology at the University of Alabama/Birmingham, as director of the Renown Neurosciences Institute and chair of neurology at the University of Nevada/Reno School of Medicine, as vice chair of neurology at George Washington University and, currently, as professor of neurology and Director of APC headache fellowship training for Inova Health/the University of Virginia (Fairfax, Virginia).

His primary areas of research have involved stroke, headache (chiefly migraine) and new paradigms for healthcare delivery. He has authored or co-authored 27 books (medical and non-medical) and book chapters, along with over 250 abstracts, editorials or full manuscripts in the peer-reviewed medical literature.

From 2001-2013 Dr. Rothrock served as editor-in-chief of Headache, the journal of the American Headache Society. For the last seven years he has written, edited and published a quarterly healthcare magazine, Migraineur. (migraineurmagazine.com).