Program Overview

The University of South Florida Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair, Cranial Division, 12-month fellowship, accredited by the Society of Neurological Surgeons Committee for Advanced Subspecialty Training (CAST).. The chosen fellow is seen as an integral part of the multidisciplinary Center for Vascular and Skull Base Surgery which includes Interventional Neuroradiologists, Otolaryngologists, Neurointensivists, as well as members of our department's cranial division, primarily working alongside Program Director, Vice-Chair and Cranial Director Siviero Agazzi, MD. The fellow will spend the entirety of their training at Tampa General Hospital, including USF Health's ambulatory clinics located directly across from TGH. 

The fellow is involved in all aspects of care including preoperative evaluation, non-operative management, operative planning, and execution, as well as postoperative care and follow-up. USF Health is a regional referral center for complex skull base and vascular conditions; over 200 aneurysms are treated annually using a variety of approaches. During this fellowship the fellow will be exposed to and gain skill with many skull base approaches as well as complex aneurysm reconstruction and bypass techniques. In addition to gaining sufficient clinical expertise to begin independent practice and form a Skull Base Surgical clinical division, the trainee will perform the necessary and sufficient research, publications, and presentations to begin an academic career. Aside from clinical training and research, they will also be expected to assist with the educational planning and course details for the annual Masters' Course in Skull Base Surgery, held at USF. 

Mission

The Skull Base Fellowship at the University of South Florida is dedicated to providing exceptional training and experience in the performance of complex intracranial neurosurgery with an emphasis upon the application of skull base surgical techniques to ordinary and extraordinary tumors and vascular lesions.  

Aims

This advanced clinical training and research fellowship aim to achieve the following for its trainees:

• To provide sufficient clinical experience in Complex Skull Base/Cerebrovascular surgery.
• To support the clinical experience with applied research suitable for promoting an academic career.
• To provide an opportunity to publish and establish expertise in a sub-specialty area.
• To gain experience in teaching students and residents in diagnostic and operative techniques.
• To gain experience as a member of an integrated Skull Base team.
• To gain experience in Clinical Skull Base research.