Round Rock Campus Faculty
Round Rock Campus Faculty
Ingrid W. Brown, MD
Co-Director of OBGYN Clerkship
Dr. Ingrid W. Brown received her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her medical doctorate from UTMB. She completed her OBGYN residency at the University of South Florida in Tampa. She is board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a Fellow in the American College of OBGYN. She has an active private practice. She joined the Texas A&M School of Medicine faculty in 2010 and is co-director of the OBGYN Clerkship.
Jinnie Bruce
Co-Director of Pediatric Clerkship
Dr. Jinnie Bruce has been teaching faculty for the Texas A&M School of Medicine since 2010. She has served as the Surgery Clerkship co-director on the Round Rock campus since 2022.
Dr. Bruce has been a general and bariatric surgeon in the Austin area for 14 years and participating in the education of medical students has been one of the greatest joys of her practice.
Sandra Esparza, MD
Director of Clinical Skills
Co-Director of Family Medicine Clerkship
Dr. Sandra Esparza received her undergraduate degree in biology from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. She then attended The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston where she earned her medical degree. She completed her residency in family medicine in Corpus Christi, and then immediately started her own practice in Round Rock, Texas. Esparza has been active in medical education since residency, first taking 3rd- and 4th-year students from her alma mater as an adjunct professor and then joining the faculty of Texas A&M School of Medicine in 2010. Since then, she has served as adjunct assistant professor and as assistant clerkship director of family medicine and taught Practice of Medicine 3.
Robyn Fader, MD, FHM
Director of Internal Medicine Clerkship
Dr. Robyn R. Fader received her undergraduate degree from Duke University and her medical doctorate from UT Medical School at Houston, where she was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor medical society. She completed her residency training in Internal Medicine at Baylor School of Medicine in Houston. She served as chief medical resident at Ben Taub Hospital and St. Luke's Hospital. She is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and a designated fellow of hospital medicine.
Dr. Fader joined Baylor Scott and White Health in 2008 as an inpatient medicine hospitalist, and she served as the medical director of the hospitalist group for 5 years. She joined the faculty of TAMU in 2010 and became the Internal Medicine clerkship director in 2017. She practices as an academic hospitalist and core faculty member for the Baylor Scott and White-Round Rock Internal Medicine residency program.
Victor Garza, MD
Co-Director of Psychiatry Clerkship
Victor Garza, M.D. is originally from Houston but has called Austin “home” since 2009. As a participant of the Rice/Baylor Medical Scholars Program, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Latin America Studies from Rice University and his Doctorate of Medicine from Baylor School of Medicine. He completed his psychiatry residency training program at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in 2008. He is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Garza has previously worked at the Austin VA Outpatient Clinic (part of the Central Texas Veteran’s Affairs Heath Care System), FasPsych which provides telepsychiatry services to rural community mental health centers, and as a psychiatry consultation/liaison provider with several local area skilled nursing facilities. He currently works for Lone Star Circle of Care in Austin.
Dr. Garza has always enjoyed teaching medical students. Through education, one of his goals is to influence the development (and growth) of the mental health workforce in the State of Texas and in the United States.
Dr. Garza loves spending time outdoors and you’ll likely find him either on his bike riding around Lady Bird Lake or on an urban hike exploring different neighborhoods in the great city of Austin.
Renee Higgerson
Co-Director of Pediatric Clerkship
Dr. Renee Higgerson graduated from the University of Miami School of Medicine in 1989 and completed her Pediatric residency and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine fellowship at the University of Florida/Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. She has practiced Pediatric Critical Care Medicine for almost 30 years. She has been in Austin for the last 22 years, and is currently the Medical Director of the PICU at St. David’s Children’s Hospital. Dr. Higgerson has had a special interest in clinical research and has collaborated on many projects with the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI) Network. She has published scholarly articles on diverse topics including venous thrombosis, resident training, consent procedures, fluid management, and ventilator associated infections. When not working, Dr. Higgerson enjoys family time with her six children, grandson, and extended family. She and her husband also like to travel, especially to MLB stadiums to watch the Astros play. She is also involved in several local charities, including Sammy’s House, a daycare center for medically fragile children.
Throughout her career, Dr. Higgerson has enjoyed teaching and mentoring residents, medical students and nurses. She has served on the faculty of multiple medical schools and at the University of Texas College of Nursing before becoming an Aggie and joining the faculty at the Round Rock Medical Campus. She is now the clerkship director for the Pediatric Clerkship hosted at St. David’s Children’s Hospital (SDCH) at North Austin Medical Center. The clerkship includes inpatient Pediatric Medical/Surgical ward, Newborn Nursery, outpatient clinic and Pediatric Emergency Department experiences. Additionally, there are electives in NICU, Pediatric Neurology, Pediatric Rheumatology and Pediatric Acting Internship opportunities at SDCH and associated clinics. The clerkship coordinator is Sarah Sanders.
Rodney Lewis, MD
Co-Director of Surgery Clerkship
Rodney Lewis, MD, has been a teaching faculty member for the Texas A&M School of Medicine since 2008. He has served as the Surgical Clerkship Director on the Round Rock campus since the inception of the campus.
He also serves as co-director for the Practice of Medicine course at the Bryan-College Station campus. Recently retired from over 30 years of clinical practice as a general surgeon, Lewis continues to teach with the desire to give back what he has learned to the next generation of physicians.
Roque Ruggero, MD, FAAEM
Director of Emergency Medicine Clerkship
Roque Ruggero, MD, received his medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio in 1997 and completed his emergency medicine residency at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York in 2000 where he also served as chief resident.
Ruggero has been a practicing emergency physician staffing St. David’s Healthcare facility since 2000. He has a special interest in pediatric emergency medicine and additionally works parttime at St. David's North Austin Medical Center since it opened in 2014. He is a member of the Texas Medical Association and the Travis County Medical Society. Ruggero is board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine.
Ruggero strongly believes in the team model of delivery of healthcare for optimum patient outcomes. He is actively involved in the integration of bedside ultrasound into the medical school curriculum. Ruggero has also participated in global health projects including Project SEMILLA in Nicaragua that strives to improve emergency healthcare capacity through education partnerships with local physicians.
Lisa Schmitt
Co-Director of Pediatric Clerkship
Dr. Lisa Schmitt received her undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. She received her medical doctorate from Georgetown University in Washington, DC where she was a Health Justice Scholar and selected for the Gold Humanism Honor Society and also elected President. She completed her residency training in Pediatrics at University of Washington - Seattle Children's Hospital. There she was a leader for the Diversity and Inclusion Committee and selected for the Resident Education and Advocacy for Child Health (REACH) Pathway. She is board certified by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Dr. Schmitt joined the St David's Children's Hospital in 2020 as an inpatient pediatric hospitalist and joined the faculty of Texas A&M in 2021. She became the Pediatric Co-Clerkship director with Dr. Renee Higgerson in 2022.
Jorge Taboada, MD
Director of Radiology Clerkship
Jorge Taboada, MD, received his medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHSC-Houston) in 2002, completed his radiology residency at UTHSC-Houston in 2007 and his interventional radiology fellowship at MD Anderson in 2008. Taboada is board certified by the American Board of Radiology.
Taboada has been a practicing radiologist with Baylor Scott & White-Round Rock since 2008. Since joining Baylor Scott & White in 2008, Taboada has enjoyed teaching medical students at the Texas A&M School of Medicine Round Rock campus. He became the Radiology Clerkship Director for the Round Rock campus in 2013. In 2020, Taboada completed a year-long fellowship in cardiothoracic imaging at UT-Southwestern.