Neurosciences

Every Moment Counts.

Halifax Health – Center for Neurosciences provides comprehensive care for complex neurological disorders and provides East Central Florida’s only Trauma Center with 24/7 neurosurgery coverage, an interventional neuroradiologist, a provider of stereotactic radiosurgery treatment in conjunction with radiation oncologists, an inpatient neurorehabilitation center and a Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center.

Rest assured you and your loved ones are in good hands.

Services We Provide

Halifax Health has collaborated with University of Florida Health (UF Health) to bring advanced neurosurgery to Volusia, Flagler and Brevard Counties. Board-certified and fellowship-trained neurosurgeons from UF Health lead the program and are located at the main campus of Halifax Health in Daytona Beach.

Halifax Health serves as the areas only Level II Trauma Center and through this partnership with UF Health we can expand on the services available to our community reach in Florida.

Living with pain, no matter how much or little is no way to live a fulfilling life. UF Health Pain Medicine at Halifax Health helps get you to a place where you can enjoy life pain-free.

Our pain medicine team provides the most advanced pain management treatment options available in a supportive, compassionate environment. Our team at UF Health Pain Medicine at Halifax Health is committed to helping patients with chronic pain return to independence and comfort and restore their quality of life.

Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center (TSC) certification from The Joint Commission, in collaboration with the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association signifies that Halifax Health meets rigorous standards for performing mechanical endovascular thrombectomy (EVT), a specialized surgical procedure used to remove a blood clot from the brain during an ischemic stroke.

Halifax Health offers the HIGHEST level of stroke care in our community. 

Halifax Health has interventional neuroradiologists as well as neuroradiologists on staff. Interventional neuroradiologic therapies are accomplished endovascularly through microcatheters inserted in the groin area and, under x-ray guidance, threaded through the blood vessels leading into the brain.

Halifax Health Neurorehabilitation Services provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to the treatments in neurologically-impaired patients. Specialists in rehabilitation medicine, rehabilitation nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy perform a complete evaluation and then provide state-of-the-art intervention to maximize the patient’s neurological status and ability to function.

Join a free support session hosted by stroke survivors.

Third Tuesday of Every Month
6:00 pm
Ormond Beach YMCA
500 Sterthaus Dr., Ormond Beach, FL 32174
To learn more about our stroke resources, reach out to strokesupport@halifax.org

Meet Your Neurosciences Team

Patrick P. Han, MD
Medical Director
Patrick P. Han, MD
Medical Director

Dr. Patrick Han graduated from the University of Kansas Medical School in 1997. He then completed his neurosurgical residency at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Az.  He performed fellowships in Cerebrovascular Neurosurgery, Endovascular Neurosurgery and Complex Spine Surgery at the Barrow Neurological Institute.

After completion of his residency and fellowships, he accepted a position as Assistant Professor at the University of Louisville in the Department of Neurosurgery in 2005. He then accepted a position as Medical Director of the St. John Neuroscience Institute in 2006.

He is currently the Medical Director of the University of Florida Health, Department of Neurosurgery at Halifax Health Medical Center. Dr. Han’s clinical interests include brain aneurysms, brain arteriovenous malformations, cavernous malformations, brain tumors, carotid stenosis, as well as cervical and lumbar spine surgeries, which includes but is not limited to artificial cervical and lumbar disc surgery for motion preservation disc replacement. He has training in clipping and coil embolization of aneurysms, as well as carotid endarterectomy and stenting.

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Rohit K. Khanna, MD
Board-Certified Neurosurgeon
Rohit K. Khanna, MD
Board-Certified Neurosurgeon

Dr. Khanna is a board-certified neurosurgeon. He is a fellow of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and a clinical assistant professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine. He specializes in minimally invasive cervical and lumbar spine surgery. He obtained his medical degree from The Ohio State University and neurosurgical training at Henry Ford Health with a fellowship at UCLA Medical Center.

Dr. Khanna has authored many publications in peer-reviewed journals. He is also a prolific inventor with patents in innovative spinal and cranial surgery procedures. His research has been featured in several publications including the cover page of the prestigious Journal of Neurosurgery.

Dr. Khanna currently practices at the UF Health Neurosurgery program at Halifax Health.

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Jason E. Blatt, MD
Pediatric Neurosurgeon
Jason E. Blatt, MD
Pediatric Neurosurgeon
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Paul R. Krafft, MD
Neurosurgeon
Paul R. Krafft, MD
Neurosurgeon

Paul Krafft, MD, is a staff physician at UF Health Neurosurgery – Halifax Health.

Dr. Krafft received his medical degree from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He completed a postdoctoral neuroscience fellowship at Loma Linda University in California, where he studied and taught the involvement of peripheral immune cells in neuronal injury progression after ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke.

Dr. Krafft completed a residency in neurosurgery and an enfolded fellowship in complex spine surgery at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. There, he received the department’s teaching award for his contributions in resident education. Dr. Krafft has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles and dozens of abstracts and poster presentations. Currently, he serves as a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. Dr. Krafft is also a member of the editorial board of the journal Brain Hemorrhages.

His clinical interests include traumatic brain injury, brain and spinal cord injury, complex spine surgery, brain tumor surgery and stroke. In addition to English, Dr. Krafft speaks fluent German and Romanian.

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Ian Tafel, MD
Neurosurgeon
Ian Tafel, MD
Neurosurgeon

Ian Tafel, MD, is a University of Florida neurosurgeon at UF Health Neurosurgery – Halifax Health.

Dr. Tafel received his undergraduate degree in psychology, magna cum laude, from the University of Pittsburgh. Before deciding to go to medical school, Dr. Tafel was a third-generation industrial machinery mechanic. He received his medical degree from Geisinger Commonwealth School in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He completed his residency in neurological surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Boston Children’s Hospital Harvard Program where he worked on nerve regeneration and the fabrication of advanced materials for medical applications at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Afterward, Dr. Tafel completed his fellowship in complex spine for surgery at the University of Miami. He has published dozens of research papers in the field of neurosurgery in addition to his clinical work. His clinical interests include degenerative disorders of the spine, spinal cord tumors, spinal deformities and minimally invasive spine surgery.

During his free time, he enjoys spending time at the beach with his family in addition to playing the violin, practicing martial arts and building, modifying and racing cars. Dr. Tafel is also a private airplane pilot and completed his first solo flight at age sixteen.

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Mark Bender, MD
Interventional Pain Medicine Specialist
Mark Bender, MD
Interventional Pain Medicine Specialist

Mark Bender, MD, DC, an interventional pain medicine specialist, has joined the medical team at UF Health Pain Medicine at Halifax Health, located at 311 N. Clyde Morris Blvd., Suite 440 Daytona Beach, Fla 32114.

Dr. Bender earned his medical degree at University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa, Fla., where he was valedictorian and a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. He completed his residency in emergency medicine at Orlando Health in Orlando, Fla., and his fellowship in pain medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla.

Prior to his medical training, he received a doctorate in chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Daytona Beach, Fla. With a successful business practice in South Florida, Dr. Bender witnessed people suffer from pain that he was not able to treat as a chiropractor. Wanting to affect people on a deeper level, he spent the intervening years training to become an expert in minimally invasive spine care.

He has been heavily involved in research and has written nineteen articles and a book chapter related to his field. The majority of his research involved the treatment of musculoskeletal and spine-related disorders. Dr. Bender has a passion for community service and has been on several medical mission trips in the Dominican Republic and Fiji.

In his free time, he loves being outdoors surfing, wakeboarding, rock climbing and traveling. He also enjoys playing the drums.

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Elizabeth Vitarbo, MD
Neurosurgeon
Elizabeth Vitarbo, MD
Neurosurgeon
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