Richard Schmidt, MD, PhD, specializes in neurosurgery and is an associate professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Utah School of Medicine. His practice includes the multidisciplinary management of complex tumors of the skull base and brain such as meningiomas. He is also a specialist in cerebrovascular brain surgery, which involves treatment of brain aneurysms and vascular malformations. This gives him the surgical expertise necessary for operations involving tumors of the skull base, as they frequently involve the major blood vessels of the brain.

A multidisciplinary management approach is especially important for complex tumors of the skull base or brain. Depending upon individual circumstances, the treatment of such a tumor may require, in addition to a neurosurgeon, the collaborative efforts of otolaryngologists, interventional neuroradiologists, neuropsychologists, or radiation oncologists. Technologies which are important in the management of complex tumors include computer-based image guided surgery, functional brain imaging, intraoperative functional mapping, tumor embolization, intraoperative electrophysiology, and endoscopic surgery. Schmidt and the multidisciplinary management team are routinely able to provide any combination of these technologies, as appropriate, in order to achieve the best outcome.

Schmidt received his undergraduate degree from Brown University and his PhD and MD degrees at the University of Iowa. He trained in neurosurgery at the University of Washington. He has done postgraduate research and clinical training at the University of Lund in Sweden and at Atkinson Morley's Hospital in London, England. He has been a member of the faculty at the University of Utah since 1993. He is board certified in neurological surgery and is a member of the subspecialty sections on cerebrovascular surgery and trauma and critical care. He has participated in numerous research activities around the world and is extensively published.