José Menéndez, MD, FAANS, FACS is a Board Certified and Fellowship Trained Neurosurgeon at The CORE Institute. He specializes in the use of minimally invasive techniques for the surgical management of brain and spine problems. He has trained many surgeons in the use of these procedures and continues to help develop better alternatives for patient care through research. He is one of few surgeons in the state who performs surgeries for brain pathologies through less-traumatic and less-invasive options, marrying the most recent advances in technology with surgical innovation and ultimately improving patient care with a safer and faster recovery. He also specializes in the surgical treatment of epilepsy.

Dr. Menéndez grew up on the border between Texas and Mexico and is very proud of his dual-culture upbringing. He earned his Medical Degree from the Instituto Tecnológicoy de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, which is the highest-ranked education institution in Mexico and one of the most prestigious in the world, where he graduated with the highest honors. He completed his neurosurgical residency at Washington University in St. Louis, where he had the opportunity to rotate at the National Referral Centre for Neurosurgery at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. He obtained further specialized training in complex spinal surgery and surgical treatment of epilepsy.

Dr. Menéndez is an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine–Phoenix and serves as the chairman of neurotrauma at Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and is a member of the American Board of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the North American Spine Society, and the International Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery.