Dr. Yarema Bezchlibnyk, MD, PhD

Expert Publications

• Amygdala cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding protein phosphorylation in patients with mood disorders: effects of diagnosis, suicide, and drug treatment.
• Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) gene is associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• Effects of restraint stress on the expression of proteins involved in synaptic vesicle exocytosis in the hippocampus.

Media Releases

Get to know Neurosurgeon Dr. Yarema Bezchlibnyk, who serves patients in Tampa, Florida.

A prominent neurosurgeon, Dr. Bezchlibnyk is affiliated with the USF Health Department of Neurosurgery in Tampa, Florida.

USF Health is an academic medical center delivering the highest quality service with the most innovative technologies while leading the way in life changing research and training the next generation of medical professionals. Its mission is to envision and implement the future of health. Its commitment is to improve the full spectrum of health, from the environment, to the community, to the individual. Together through talent and innovation, it is integrating research, education and health care to reach its shared value - making life better.

Dr. Bezchlibnyk graduated from the University of Toronto in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Genetics and Molecular Biology, including a minor in Bioethics. Subsequently, he defended a Doctor of Philosophy degree investigating the molecular and cellular factors underlying the pathophysiology of mood and psychotic disorders under the supervision of Dr. L. Trevor Young. 

Upon the successful completion of his doctoral studies, he began his training in medicine at the University of Toronto. While working towards his medical degree, he published a study with Dr. Andres Lozano exploring the effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) on cellular morphology. In 2010, he was accepted into the neurosurgery residency training program at the University of Calgary, Alberta, where he worked with Dr. Zelma Kiss as a post-doctoral fellow further investigating DBS-induced neuroplasticity and authored several clinical studies including a comparison of neuropsychological outcomes in patients with advanced PD in Canada and Hong Kong..  

Upon the successful completion of his neurosurgery board examinations, he completed a post-doctoral fellowship in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery and epilepsy surgery at Emory University with Drs. Robert E. Gross, Jon T. Willie, and Nicholas M. Boulis. In the course of this fellowship he developed further proficiency with peripheral nerve surgery, including nerve grafting and transfers for peripheral nerve injuries.

Dr. Bezchlibnyk is a Fellow of the American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Fellow of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Fellow of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He is also an active member of the American Epilepsy Society.

In his capacity as Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of South Florida’s Morsani School of Medicine, his clinical and research focus is on stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, epilepsy surgery, and peripheral nerve surgery. He is excited by the opportunity to expand the care received by patients suffering from movement, psychiatric, epilepsy, pain, and peripheral nerve disorders.

Involved in clinical research, Dr. Bezchlibnyk strives to advance his understanding of movement, psychiatric, epilepsy, pain, and peripheral nerve disorders, and to develop novel and more effective approaches to their treatment.

Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, surgical treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system. Neurosurgeons are doctors who diagnose and treat problems with the nervous system, often by performing surgery on the brain or spine. They treat strokes, tumors, certain types of birth defects, infections, and head or spinal cord injuries.

On a more personal note, he is fluent in English, French, and Ukrainian.

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