The UF Health Skull Base Center provides state-of-the-art care for the treatment of skull base and brain tumors and related conditions. Part of the largest neurosurgery practice in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia, our highly trained multidisciplinary team is led by UF Health neurosurgeon Daryoush Tavanaiepour, MD, and co-directed by oral and maxillofacial surgeon Rui Fernandes, MD, DMD.

Our goal is to improve every patient’s quality of life by providing exceptional treatment in a compassionate, caring environment. The Skull Base Center medical team receives ongoing training in the latest techniques and works in a leading-edge regional medical center featuring the newest advancements in technology.

Video: A brain tumor like no other

Skull base tumors: Why choose UF Health Jacksonville?

• UF Health Jacksonville has the only Skull Base Center in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia. The team that will care for you includes the brightest, most talented health professionals in the country. They are also faculty members of an academic health center who train the next generation of physicians, nurses and other health care providers and, through continuing education seminars, pass along the latest medical advances.
• Patient concierge services. World-class care begins with world-class service. Our clinical care coordinators provide patients with personal attention and care while guiding them through every step of treatment. They are responsible for a wide range of duties, including:
  • Helping referring physicians admit new patients into our system.
  • Acting as a liaison between patients and their physicians, ensuring patients’ questions are answered quickly.
  • Gathering necessary medical records that are needed to provide the best possible care.
  • Coordinating and scheduling tests, procedures and appointments with all hospital departments.
  • Ensuring all insurance requirements are met.
• The UF Health Skull Base Center Peer Review Board meets weekly to review patient cases. Doctors specializing in skull base tumors share test results and collaborate to make sure each patient receives the most effective, up-to-date treatment options.
• We conduct cutting-edge research and clinical trials that give hope to patients from around the world. Our doctors share their knowledge by writing articles for numerous medical journals and textbooks.
• As part of an academic health center, the UF Health Skull Base Center offers world-class facilities and the latest advancements in treatment. Some of those treatments are the result of our own research.
  • We use a multispecialty team approach to skull base tumor care.
  • State-of-the-art operating room technology combines sophisticated endoscopic-assisted microneurosurgery, image guidance and robotic surgery. Greater precision gives us optimum results.
  • Dedicated neuropathologists specializing in skull base tumors provide a more accurate diagnosis and offer alternate treatment options.
• Proton therapy treatment available. The UF Health Proton Therapy Institute is the first treatment center in the Southeast U.S. to offer proton therapy. Florida residents, as well as patients from the region, the country and the world, have access to a new cancer treatment option delivered in a supportive, healing environment.