UTHealth Houston Designated as NASBS Multidisciplinary Team of Distinction

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston has been named a North American Skull Base Society (NASBS) (external link) Multidisciplinary Team of Distinction for 2026. Texas Skull Base Physicians at UTHealth Houston brings together a highly experienced multidisciplinary team of subspecialists for patients with complex disorders and diseases of the skull base.

“Our team of physicians has developed successful strategies for the minimally invasive endoscopic management of benign and malignant neoplasms of the anterior and lateral skull base, in addition to traditional approaches,” says William Yao, MD, chief of rhinology, director of the rhinology fellowship, and an associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston.

Only 59 institutions in North America have received the prestigious designation, and UTHealth Houston is among only five such teams across the entire Gulf Coast region. The recognition emphasizes the importance of dedicated skull base surgery teams with a multidisciplinary focus on patient care.

In addition to Dr. Yao, the team at UTHealth Houston includes Spiros Blackburn, MD, professor of neurosurgery; Jacques Morcos, MD, professor, chair, and John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Distinguished Chair in neurosurgery; Vivian Kaul, MD, chief of otology and neurotology and assistant professor of otorhinolaryngology; endocrinologist Katie Guttenberg, MD, associate professor of internal medicine; rhinologist Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of otorhinolaryngology; and radiation oncologist Mark Amsbaugh, MD, associate professor of neurosurgery.

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