- About
- Specialties & Areas of Expertise
- Locations & Patient Information
- Education & Research
- Accepted Insurance
- External Professional Relationships
James Tao, MD, PhD specializes in the diagnosis and management of seizures and epilepsy. He is the director of adult epilepsy center and the clinical neurophysiology Laboratory at the University of Chicago. Dr. Tao is highly skilled in the use of surgery and neurostimulation devices for treating patients with medically resistant epilepsy, with a particular interest in the minimally invasive surgery such as laser surgery.
His clinical research focuses on the use of electrophysiology and different types of neuroimaging to localize the seizure focus and guide epilepsy surgery. Dr. Tao is also interested in the mechanism and prevention of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), which is the leading cause of mortality in patients with chronic uncontrolled epilepsy. Dr. Tao is well-published in peer-reviewed journals, such as JAMA, Neurology, Epilepsia, Neuron, Neurosurgery, J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, Seizure, and Epilepsy & Behavior.
Dr. Tao is also involved in the education of medical students, residents and fellows. He is the director of clinical neurophysiology fellowship program. Dr. Tao has given many lectures during didactic teaching and grand rounds, as well as an invited lecturer nationally and internationally.
Specialties
Areas of Expertise
- EEG
- Epilepsy
- Cerebral Cavernous Malformation (CCM)
- Clinical Neurophysiology
- Seizures
Board Certifications
- Epilepsy
- Neurology
Practicing Since
- 2002
Languages Spoken
- English
- Mandarin Chinese
Medical Education
- Wannan Medical College; Capital Medical University
Internship
- University of Illinois Hospital
Residency
- University of Chicago Medicine; Capital Institute of Medicine
Fellowship
- University of Chicago Medicine
Other Grad Education
- University of Cincinnati,PhD
Memberships & Medical Societies
- American Academy of Neurology
- American Epilepsy Society
- American Clinical Neurophysiology Society
News & Research
Insurance
- Aetna Better Health *see insurance page
- Aetna HMO (specialists only)
- Aetna Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO
- Aetna POS
- Aetna PPO
- BCBS Blue Precision HMO (specialists only)
- BCBS HMO (HMOI) (specialists only)
- BCBS Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO
- BCBS PPO
- Cigna HMO
- Cigna POS
- Cigna PPO
- CountyCare *see insurance page
- Humana Medicare Advantage Choice PPO
- Humana Medicare Advantage Gold Choice PFFS
- Humana Medicare Advantage Gold Plus HMO
- Medicare
- Multiplan PPO
- PHCS PPO
- United Choice Plus POS/PPO
- United Choice HMO (specialists only)
- United Options (PPO)
- United Select (HMO & EPO) (specialists only)
- United W500 Emergent Wrap
- University of Chicago Health Plan (UCHP)
Our list of accepted insurance providers is subject to change at any time. You should contact your insurance company to confirm UChicago Medicine participates in their network before scheduling your appointment. If you have questions regarding your insurance benefits at UChicago Medicine, please contact our financial counseling team at OPSFinancialCounseling@uchospitals.edu.
Some of our physicians and health professionals collaborate with external pharmaceutical, medical device, or other medical related entities to develop new treatments and products to improve clinical outcomes for patients. In some instances, the physician has ownership interests in the external entity and/or is compensated for advising or speaking about the entity’s products or treatments. These payments may include compensation for consulting and speaking engagements, equity, and/or royalties for products invented by our physicians. To assure objectivity and integrity in patient care, UChicago Medicine requires all physicians and health professionals to report their relationships and financial interests with external entities on an annual basis. This information is used to review relationships and transactions that might give rise to potential financial conflicts of interest, and when considered to be significant a management plan to mitigate any biases is created.
If you are a patient at UChicago Medicine and would like more information about your physician’s external relationships, please talk with your physician. You may also visit the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments website at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/ . CMS Open Payments is a national disclosure program that promotes a more transparent and accountable health care system. It houses a publicly accessible database of payments that reporting entities, including drug and medical device companies, make to covered recipients like physicians and hospitals.
Information in the CMS Open Payments database could potentially contain inaccurately reported and out of date payment information. All information is open to personal interpretation, if there are questions about the data, patients and their advocates should speak directly to their health care provider for a better understanding.