Neurosurgical Care
If you’ve been diagnosed with a neurological condition requiring surgery, you need a highly trained and experienced neurosurgeon.
At UC San Diego Health, you get specialized and personalized care throughout your entire medical journey.
From your first visit with us to follow-up care, our team members provide committed, world-class service.
Why Choose Us?
Neurosurgical Care at UC San Diego Health has earned several distinctions:
- #21 in US News & World Report for Neurology & Neurosurgery
- #3 nationally for quality in Vizient, the nation's leading health care performance improvement company
- The region's only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Level 4 Epilepsy Center
- The region's first Level I Trauma Center
- Two Comprehensive Stroke Centers
- The region's only intraoperative MRI
- A world-class skull base surgery program
The Latest Neurosurgery Treatment Options
Our neurosurgeons are experts in using innovative technology and therapies to deliver the best possible treatment for injuries and disorders of the brain, spine, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. This includes:
- Awake brain surgery
- Computer-assisted brain surgery
- Deep brain stimulation
- Intraoperative MRI
- Minimally invasive surgery
- Neurocritical care
- Stereotactic radiosurgery
Neurosurgery Specialty Programs
- Acoustic neuroma and skull base surgery
- Brain aneurysm
- Brain tumors and metastatic brain cancer
- Carotid artery disease
- Cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM)
- Complex spine surgery
- Neurovascular (stroke)
- Peripheral nerve disorders
- Pediatric neurosurgery — at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego
- Pituitary tumors
Intraoperative MRI
The intraoperative MRI suite at Jacobs Medical Center allows neurosurgeons and neuroradiologists to monitor patients in real time. In brain tumor patients, a guidance system can create a color-coded 3D image of the brain that depicts structures critical to speech, motor and cognitive functions.
Surgeons can use these high-definition images to avoid sensitive brain regions and may rescan the brain during surgery to assess whether the procedure has succeeded or needs more attention.

Neurosurgical Care with Dr. Alexander Khalessi