Medical Education Faculty

Stacey Arnold, EdD

Stacey Arnold, EdD, received her undergraduate degree and a Master of Education degree from Lamar University. Arnold holds a Doctor of Education in Educational Administration and Human Resource Development from Texas A&M University. Throughout her career, she has served as a teacher, administrator, and instructional leader, providing professional development to assist instructors in becoming better teachers for the students they serve.

Arnold joined the Texas A&M School of Medicine in 2013 after a 29-year career in public education. She serves as an education specialist in the Office of Professional Development and is an instructional assistant professor in the Department of Medical Education, teaching in the Education for Healthcare Professionals (EDHP) certificate and master’s degree program.

Timothy Boone, MD, PhD

Dr. Timothy B. Boone is Director of Education for the Houston Methodist Academic Institute, and a member of the Neurological Institute at Houston Methodist Hospital. He is Professor of Urology at Weill Cornell Medical College and holds appointments as Professor of Urology at Texas A&M College of Medicine and Baylor College of Medicine where he is a Clinical Professor of Urology. In 2014, Dr. Boone was appointed Associate Dean, Texas A&M University College of Medicine at the Houston campus. 

Dr. Boone earned his Master of Science in physiology and Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston. He completed his M.D./Ph.D. at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and urology residency training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. In 1991 he joined the faculty in the Department of Urology at UT Southwestern for two years and then moved to Baylor College of Medicine where he joined the Scott Department of Urology. In 2000 Dr. Boone was named Professor and Chair of the Scott Department of Urology where he served until 2008. For over 20 years he actively participated in the care of spinal cord injured veterans with neurogenic bladder dysfunction at the VA Spinal Cord Injury Unit in Dallas and in Houston.

Charles E. Brown, MD

Dr. Charlie Brown is a 1980 graduate of the Tulane University School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency training at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston in 1984, followed by a Fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine (1984-1986) in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UT Southwestern (UTSW). In 1994, he moved to Austin, Texas and was a founding member of the Texas Perinatal Group, an MFM private practice. While in that practice he served as the Medical Director of Perinatology at Seton/Ascension Medical Center and Brackenridge Hospital and was on the Board of Directors and Chief of Obstetrics at the UTMB Austin Women’s Hospital, an obstetric teaching facility. In 2016, Dr. Brown returned to UTSW where he served as the Associate Program Director of the MFM Fellowship Program until April of 2022. He joined the Texas A&M College of Medicine faculty in 2022.

Kevin H. Brown, MD, FACOG

Dr. Kevin H. Brown received his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia Honors Program and his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia. He completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of South Florida and is board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. After moving to central Texas in 2007, Dr. Brown joined the Texas A&M School of Medicine as faculty in 2010. He is a clinical associate professor and teaches women’s health to pre-clerkship and clerkship students on all School of Medicine campuses. He has served in many roles for the School of Medicine including Clerkship Director, Executive Clerkship Director, Director of Clinical Skills, and Assistant Dean of Clinical Education. He became Associate Dean of the Round Rock campus in 2020.

Stephanie S. Bruce, MD, MAS, FACOG

Dr. Stephanie S. Bruce currently serves as the Assistant Chief Quality Officer for Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital in addition to maintaining an active Gynecology practice within the Houston Methodist Physician Organization. In 2020, Dr. Bruce was appointed Assistant Dean for the Texas A&M University College of Medicine at the new Willowbrook site of the Houston Campus.   Additionally, she is Assistant Clinical Professor, teaching Gynecology, Practice of Medicine (POM), and overseeing several electives in Administration, Quality, and Health System Science.  She is also interested in service and student research, playing an instrumental role in initiating a student-run clinic for the underserved and a Quality and Patient Safety Symposium for student participation.  

Dr. Bruce earned her undergraduate degree with a double major in Biology and Chemistry from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. After graduation, Dr. Bruce attended Texas A&M University School of Medicine and was very active during her time there, serving as the Class Vice President and being selected as a Clegg Scholar with the British Medical Journal. She completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology through the University of Texas at Hermann Hospital located in the Houston Medical Center.  She was in private practice as a general Ob/Gyn for over 15 years, prior to obtaining a Master of Applied Science in Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality in 2020 from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

She is a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), a diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG), and is a member of Delta Omega, Honorary Society in Public Health.  Dr. Bruce is passionate about Patient Safety, Quality, Health System Science, and High Reliability in Healthcare.

Lorin Catalena, PA-C

Lorin Catalena, PA-C, is a certified physician assistant who joined Texas A&M’s Department of Medical Education in 2023.

As an Adjunct Clinical Instructor, Mrs. Catalena specializes in teaching medical students physical exam and patient communication skills as well as other topics related to clinical encounters and ethics. Mrs. Catalena has worked at Texas ENT & Allergy in College Station since July 2005. Prior to this, Mrs. Catalena worked for four years at University Pediatric Association.

Mrs. Catalena graduated summa cum laude from Texas A&M University, where she received the Gathright Scholar Award for academic excellence. She became a practicing Physician Assistant in 1999 after graduating from Baylor College of Medicine’s prestigious PA program. She received clinical training in Houston’s Medical Center at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Hospital, Ben Taub Hospital and Texas Children’s Hospital. Her master’s thesis research was in neonatal intestinal perforations research at Texas Children’s Hospital. Her community outpatient clinical training included general pediatrics at University Pediatric Association and community medicine training at Burleson St. Joseph Family Medicine Clinic and Brazos Valley Women’s Center. 

Her areas of clinical interest include adult and pediatric otorhinolaryngology, voice disorders and videostroboscopy, and allergy.

Diane E. Chico, PhD

My commitment to medical education began with medical gross anatomy, having taken the course as a graduate student with first-year medical students. Engaging medical and health professional students in learning the fundamental concepts of the anatomical sciences and then teaching them how to teach themselves the details and clinical applications of the knowledge they have acquired continuously challenge me to become a more effective educator. Most importantly, the relationships built with the students as I contribute to, and observe their progress through medical school and with my colleagues invested in our learners’ professional development all motivate me to meet the challenges of promoting excellence in medical education. The interpersonal connection with students and colleagues to create a comfortable, dynamic learning environment for learners is as important as teaching the fundamentals in biomedical and clinical sciences. At the end of the day, seeing our learners recognize their potential and pursue their goals in the medical profession and academia makes teaching a most rewarding experience.

Peter Coldwell, MD, MPSA, FS, DABFM, FAAFP

Dr. Coldwell joined the US Army in 1980, serving 8-years as an enlisted medic paratrooper. He remained in the Reserve components during under graduate and medical school, on a full military scholarship. Graduating from medical school in 1994 he has served in a myriad of responsibilities. Upon graduation Dr. Coldwell was sent to Brooke Army Medical Center to complete a transitional internship. He was then assigned as the only active-duty (AD) physician in MI where he served as the Officer-in-Charge of the US Army Health Clinic. Following completion of this obligation, he entered a Family Medicine residency as a PGY-2, becoming Chief Resident elect and the award of outstanding resident for the class. His practice the first 8 years was blended, clinic, ER, hospital, chief of staff, EMS and trauma director. He was asked to operate as the tactical medic for the Sheriff’s Special Response team and attended SWAT training. Subsequently he left this blended practice to focus on emergency medicine and was hired as the medical director for a level 4 ED. During this time COL (R) Coldwell remained in the Texas Army National Guard, until his retirement in April 2022. During his time, he served as Brigade, Division and State Surgeon (SS); SS being the military equivalent of Chief Medical Officer (CMO). In 2014 he attended and completed Army Flight Surgeon training. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic he was called back to AD to serve as the Joint Surgeon, the most senior medical officer responsible for 22,000 Airmen and Soldiers. He led testing and vaccination efforts and advised the Commanding General on the medical path forward. He served two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with infantry units. It was on these tours he was exposed to multiple remote traumatic mass casualty events. These experiences provided exposure that most physicians never experience.

Most recently he is a proud TAMU graduate, completing a Master’s degree in Public Service and Administration, with emphasis in Homeland Security, 2023. It was during this program he had the great fortune to meet Dean Waer, ultimately resulting in his current position. In addition to his effort at TAMU he continues to practice emergency medicine, provides expert opinion in medicolegal cases, remains an active volunteer medical director for Mason County EMS. He is the CMO for Knight Aerospace advising on the development of their medical modules; Medical Review Officer for the Texas Racing Commission. His passion and avocation are as a board member for Project Healing Heroes, helping Veterans, Police, Fire and EMS with their healing journey from PTSD.

Cristie Columbus, MD

Cristie Columbus, MD, is an associate dean for the Texas A&M College of Medicine. Her research interests include medical education, infection control and prevention, and hospital epidemiology.

She serves Baylor University Medical Center as chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) and Baylor Scott & White Health-North Division as medical director for epidemiology and infectious diseases and emergency management and infectious diseases. At BUMC, she also serves as director of Graduate Medical Education. Since 2010, Dr. Columbus has served as the program director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship at BUMC.

Dr. Columbus received her Bachelor of Science in zoology from University of Texas, Master's degree and Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. She then completed an internship and residency and a fellowship in infectious diseases at Baylor University Medical Center. Dr. Columbus is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and of the Subspecialty Board of Infectious Diseases, and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Gloria M Conover, PhD

Throughout my career as a biomedical educator, I have taught numerous undergraduate, graduate and medical students and postdoctoral trainees. I have inspired them to dream big and work towards achieving their full potential while being mindful of the challenges and opportunities of their environment. In my current positions as Instructional Assistant Professor and Director, I am thrilled to offer research learning opportunities that cultivate interdisciplinary scholarly collaborations to improve patient care. In particular, I am interested in developing courses on interprofessional telemedicine models of health care delivery and vertical integration of the medical school pre-clerkship to the clerkship curriculum. For more details on my vision to support life-long scholarship, visit our  Medical Scholar Research Pathway Program.

Through my teaching I facilitate learner engagement of state-of-the-art biologically-based technologies which will pave the way for highly robust personalized treatments to mangiest devastating illnesses. I aspire to be a role model to my students, and particularly to inspire those students from diverse groups with advice and support based on my own academic journey. For more details on my scholarly activity, I invite you to visit  my TAMU profile

Olawale Fashina, MD

Olawale O. Fashina., M.D, was appointed the Chief of Staff for the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System (CTVHCS) effective July 13, 2014.  Dr. Fashina is responsible for all medical programs, policies and medical operations of this multi-million-dollar VA health care system. It is comprised of the Waco VA medical centers, a large stand-alone outpatient clinic in Austin, and Community Based Outpatient Clinics located in Brownwood, Bryan/College Station, Cedar Park, La Grange, and Palestine.

Prior to this appointment, Dr. Fashina served as the Associate Chief of Staff for Ambulatory Care from 2007-2014 with responsibility for Primary Care, C&P, Women Veterans’ Health, and Patient Education. He served as VISN 17 Lead for Primary Care. Dr. Fashina earned his medical degree from the University of Lagos in 1982. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and holds a Masters’ Degree in Health Administration. Dr. Fashina is a Certified Physician Executive and an assistant professor at Texas A&M College of Medicine. Dr Fashina serves as Associate Site Dean for Texas A&M Medical College.

Robyn Fader, MD, FHM

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.

Jennifer Friedman, MD, FACOG, NCMP

The term, “lifelong learning”, has broad meaning, as it applies to a wide range of educational theories and individual experiences. I view lifelong learning from my endeavors and accomplishments as the ways that I have gained knowledge from them, grown from them and changed from them. I also see lifelong learning as a mutual relationship between learning and teaching. As a physician of 21 years, my patients have taught me about medicine and life and vice versa. As a mother, my 3 daughters have helped me grow and learn just as I have helped them. As a community member, civic duty and volunteer work are central to my active engagement and have given me a greater understanding of those around me, just as I have contributed to society. I am passionate about medical education because I view medical education as a mutual relationship between teaching and learning. I believe in my ability to give to and teach students about the unique life experiences I have been afforded, just as I believe in their ability to teach me about their unique lives.

Sheila Green, MSLS

I spent many years applying my BS in Computer Science to corporate software training, quality assurance, and project management. I recognized I was more interested in information and what people did with it than I was in the technology that delivered the information. I now leverage my computer background, an MS in Library Science, and over a decade of medical libraries experience to partner with faculty, post docs, staff, and students to advance their goals for learning, teaching, research, and impact.

Chetan Jinadatha, MD

Dr. Chetan Jinadatha received his Medical Doctor from JJM Medical College, in India, and his master’s in public health from the School of Public Health, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas. He completed his internship, residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in infectious diseases at Scott & White Memorial Hospital, in Temple, Texas. Dr. Chetan Jinadatha currently is the Chief of Infectious Diseases Section at Central Texas Veterans Health Care System in Temple, Texas. He is also a Clinical Professor, department of medical education, College of Medicine at Texas A & M University, College Station, TX. Dr. Jinadatha is practicing clinician, researcher, and educator. He is involved with education of medical students, residents and infectious diseases fellows. He has extensive experience as hospital epidemiologist and researcher. His clinical and research interests focus on the role of surfaces in causation of HAIs and how technology might be able to solve the problem of HAIs as well as Legionella and COVID prevention. Dr. Jinadatha has also testified as an expert witness in US Congress and participated in several task force related to Legionella prevention in the VA as well as wastewater surveillance for COVID. Dr. Jinadatha has also authored chapters in the APIC textbook of Infection prevention and control and has published several manuscripts in peer reviewed journals. Dr. Jinadatha hold multiple patents in the area of HAI prevention technologies and serves as a grant reviewer on various study sections.

Seamus Kelleher, MA

Seamus Kelleher is an adjunct assistant clinical professor at Texas A&M College of Medicine and a much in demand motivational speaker. For almost five decades, Seamus Kelleher, a native of Galway Ireland, now residing in Naples Florida, has performed as a musician in major venues and festivals across the U.S. and Europe including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Excelsior in Rome. He is currently an adjunct assistant clinical professor at Texas A&M College of Medicine and a much in demand motivational speaker. He was also an adjunct professor at New York University and Fordham University and a marketing executive in the corporate world. Throughout his career, Seamus has battled depression, anxiety, and an addiction to alcohol. His message during his classes at Texas A&M and in his motivational talks across the country is one of hope and resilience no matter what the situation. He provides his students with concrete tools and strategies to help ensure their mental wellness as they embark on their exciting journey. “When physicians and others in healthcare take care of their own mental wellness, I believe they are better equipped to provide the best possible care to their patients and they also position themselves for longevity in what is a wonderful but challenging profession,” says Seamus.

Terri Kurz, PhD

Terri Kurz, PhD is the Assistant Dean for Professional Development. Since joining the College of Medicine in 2012, she has served in various roles in faculty development and now oversees the Office of Professional Development which provides support and resources for the professional development of the College of Medicine faculty and staff. She is also an Instructional Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Education and teaches in the Education for Healthcare Professionals program.

Rodney Lewis, MD

Rodney Lewis, MD, has been a teaching faculty member for the Texas A&M College 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.

Jim Lucas, MD, FACS

Colonel (ret.) Jim Lucas, MD, FACS is Clinical Professor and Head of the Military Medicine Program, Texas A&M University College of Medicine.  After receiving his baccalaureate degree from Texas A&M University, Dr. Lucas began his medical education at Texas A&M College of Medicine.  Inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society in 1996, COL Lucas graduated with honors and was commissioned as a Captain in the United States Army on June 7, 1997.  He completed his residency training in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in San Antonio, Texas at Brooke Army Medical Center, serving as Chief Resident in his final year.  Following 5 years of ENT surgical practice at Fort Polk, Louisiana and Fort Carson, Colorado, Dr. Lucas was selected for fellowship training in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Illinois Chicago Medical Center. 

Following his fellowship, COL Lucas was assigned to Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center (CRDAMC), Fort Hood, Texas, as the Chief of Otolaryngology and the Director of Facial Plastic Surgery in 2010.  As a Core Faculty member of the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery residency program, he became widely recognized for his teaching excellence and clinical expertise in complex nasal reconstruction and facial reconstruction post-Mohs surgery.

Over the course of 28+ years of service in the United States Army Medical Department, COL Lucas served in numerous operational, clinical, educational, and leadership roles – culminating as a Deputy Commander and Chief Medical Officer at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center, Fort Hood, Texas.  In that capacity, he played a key role in establishing CRDAMC as a Clinical Training Site for Texas A&M College of Medicine.  He was selected as the Associate Site Dean and served in that role until his Army retirement in 2021.  A distinguished member of the Order of Military Medical Merit, Dr. Lucas brings to the College of Medicine a passion for mentoring and preparing the next generation of military physicians to adapt, thrive, and lead through the full spectrum of conditions and environments they may encounter over the course of their career.

Gary C. McCord, MD

After being in full time private practice of radiology for several years following residency, I realized that I missed teaching, but had no time to do it. I ultimately cut back my practice time to enable me to spend some time teaching at the medical school. I started teaching in the Medical Gross Anatomy course in 1991 and then in the Neuroscience course that followed it, and have been doing so ever since. Teaching is a labor of love and you do it repetitively because you can’t imagine doing anything else. I get a real charge out of trying to take a complicated topic and make it understandable. To me, the key is showing that what you are teaching is practical and will actually be usable someday. That is what I aspire to do by bringing in interesting radiology cases that correlate with what we are teaching at the time. My advice to new teachers is always the same: Make it practical.

Darlene McLaughlin, MD

Dr. McLaughlin is a board-certified psychiatrist. Her areas of interest, experience and expertise include general adult psychiatry and special populations.

Rob Milman, MD

 

Rob Milman, MD, served as a private practice radiologist for more than 25 years and is a former partner with the Austin Radiological Association in Austin, Texas. He has a deep interest in promoting effective health communication.

Milman is the Interim Associate Department Head and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Medical Education. He was inducted into the Texas A&M College of Medicine Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators in 2019.

Catherine Pepper, MLS, MPH

Catherine Pepper, MLIS, MPH, is a Senior Associate Professor for the Department of Medical Education and teaches in evidence-based medicine and interprofessional education courses. She retired from the Medical Sciences Library at Texas A&M University in August 2022 as the Regional Services Coordinator and holds the rank of tenured Associate Professor Emerita. Based in Austin, TX, as medical librarian for the Round Rock campus of the Texas A&M Health Science Center, Cathy also served as the liaison librarian for HSC campuses and residencies in locations outside of College Station, including Houston, Corpus Christi, Temple, Dallas, and McAllen. She has taught evidence-based medicine/practice for medical, nursing, and public health students and a credit-bearing course on public health informatics.

Cathy earned her master's degree in Library and Information Science at the University of Texas and her Master of Public Health in health informatics at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. Cathy is a graduate from the CDC’s Public Health Informatics Fellowship Program (PHIFP) and was recognized for outstanding service to the Informatics Office at the Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases. Cathy’s primary research has focused on qualitative studies on teaching evidence-based medicine, as well as on clinical decision support tools, the use of scholarly metrics to quantify faculty research impact, and the potential use of social network analysis for evaluation of public health information systems.

Roque Ruggero, MD

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.

Dr. 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 Children's Emergency Department since its inception in 2014. He is board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Ruggero first joined TX A&M School of Medicine in 2009. 

Dr. Ruggero strongly believes in the team model of delivery of healthcare for optimal patient outcomes. He is actively involved in the integration of bedside ultrasound into the medical school curriculum. Dr. Ruggero has also participated in global health projects that strive to improve emergency healthcare capacity through education partnerships with local physicians. 

I have fun teaching history and physical exams skills, procedural skills, bedside ultrasound, and resuscitation topics with our bright, hard-working TAMU medical students.

Halil Sari, PhD

I completed my master's and PhD in the Research and Evaluation Methodology Program in the College of Education at the University of Florida. I did my post-doctoral studies in the Family Nutrition Program at the University of Florida and in the Counseling & Human Department at the University of Rochester, NY. I joined Texas A&M University in 2022 as the Instructional Assistant Professor. I also have joint appointment as Assistant Director of Assessment & Psychometrics with the Office of Evaluation and Assessment. I am teaching quantitative methods and psychometrics courses at the graduate level and mentoring medical students in their research. I enjoy using my quantitative skills to contribute to the research that is conducted by smartest researchers. I like camping outside of work.

Vinayak Shenoy, PhD

Vinayak Shenoy, PhD, obtained his Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from the College of Pharmacy in Manipal, India, and his Master of Pharmacy from the Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences in Pilani, India. He then pursued his PhD and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville, Florida.

With the support of an American Heart Association (AHA) grant, he secured a research faculty position at the Department of Pharmacodynamics, College of Pharmacy, UF, where he served for four years before joining the College of Pharmacy at California Health Sciences University (CHSU) as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology. He served at CHSU for seven years, where he was promoted to the position of Associate Professor and Assistant Dean of Assessment before joining Texas A&M University in July 2023.

His research expertise lies in studying the role of the renin-angiotensin system in cardiopulmonary diseases, particularly pulmonary hypertension, and fibrosis. He is a passionate pharmacology teacher who believes that students learn better when scientific concepts are explained in a clear and simple way.

Pawan Sikka, MD

It is a source of great pride for me to be able to serve a population that has always been very close to my heart – The Veterans, while working at the Central Texas Veterans Health Care in Temple, TX since 2002 in many roles. I started as staff physician in Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep medicine and later became the chief of the same section in 2010. I also served in other roles at the same time, including being associate program director of the Pulmonary and Critical care fellowship, medical director of the Sleep program for several years, core key clinical faculty for Internal medicine residency and block leader of the respiratory block for Texas A&M 2^nd year medical students. I was appointed ACOS /Chief Medicine in 2016 and thereafter ACOS/Chief Education in April 2019, in which role I am currently continuing. I enjoy learning continually and am passionate about innovation and collaboration to enhance learning for all levels of medical education.

My connection with the VA began in 1996 as a medical resident and then as a fellow who tremendously enjoyed interacting with the Veterans, taking care of them and listening to their stories.  This connection has always been a special part of my journey and has continually motivated me to do more.  It is an honor and a privilege to be a part of this great organization with so much potential and a most noble mission, to be able to serve the Veteran population and make a difference. 

Micheal Spohn, MD

Dr. Micheal Spohn is an award-winning emergency medicine physician, researcher, and educator with twenty years of service in the United States Air Force. Since 2009, Dr. Spohn has served as an emergency medicine physician at CHI St. Joseph Health Regional Hospital in Bryan, a Level II trauma center that sees more than 50,000 ED patients annually and is recognized as a major stroke, chest pain, and trauma center. He has received the hospital’s Reverence Award, Stewardship Award, and many other honors, and he is consistently ranked among the nation’s top medical professionals for patient care and compassionate service.

In addition to his work in the emergency room, Dr. Spohn serves as Associate Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. In his additional capacity as Special Assistant to the Dean for Military Medicine, he helped establish Military Medicine at Texas A&M. Since becoming the Emergency Medicine Education Director and Medical Student Clerkship Director, Dr. Spohn has consistently elevated the program. He has been named to the Texas A&M College of Medicine Faculty of the Year in Emergency Medicine for seven out of the last ten years. Before pursuing his career in emergency medicine, Dr. Spohn earned his B.S. in Management at the U.S. Air Force Academy and served twenty years in the military.

Vincent J. VanBuren, PhD, FAHA

Dr. Vincent VanBuren earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Lehigh University in 2002, where his dissertation focused on the computational modeling of microtubules. In 2006, he completed postdoctoral training in bioinformatics at the National Institute on Aging. During this time, he supervised the assembly of a large cDNA library from early mouse embryos and embryonic stem cells using advanced bioinformatics techniques.

Joining Texas A&M University’s College of Medicine in 2006, Dr. VanBuren was appointed as the Director of the Microarray Core Facility, a position he held until 2008. He then served as the Director of the newly established Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Lab from 2009 to 2014. In recognition of his contributions to medical education, he was promoted to Instructional Associate Professor of Medical Education in 2023.

Dr. VanBuren has been actively involved in graduate education, chairing one doctoral committee and one master’s committee, and serving on another doctoral committee and three additional master’s committees. He is the author of 25 peer-reviewed journal articles, one book, and four book chapters. Notably, he was a keynote speaker at the Rocky Mountains Bioinformatics Conference in 2008.

In his teaching role, Dr. VanBuren directs graduate courses in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics and leads the Evidence-Based Medicine course and AI with Clinical Applications elective in the medical school. His commitment to academic leadership is evident through his election as Chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) for the College of Medicine in 2022. He also chairs the Program Evaluation and Assessment Committee (PEAC) and the Longitudinal Evaluation of Admissions Program Subcommittee (LEAPS). In 2024, he was appointed as the Faculty Ombudsman for the College of Medicine.

Christine Whitelaw, MD

Dr. Christine Cappelle Whitelaw received her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and her medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine.  She completed a pediatric residency program at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk, Virginia.  She then completed a pediatric emergency medicine fellowship at Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Whitelaw continued to work in the three local children’s hospitals in Louisville until joining the staff at St. David’s Children’s Hospital in Austin, Texas in 2021.  She is board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Emergency Medicine. She joined Texas A&M College of Medicine in 2022 as a clinical assistant professor.

With five grown and flown children, she now enjoys life with her husband on a ranch on Lake Buchanan that they share with donkeys, antelope and fainting goats.  She is an avid fundraiser for Adults Independent and Motivated (AIM), a nonprofit serving adults with an intellectual and/or developmental disability.

Scott Wieters, MD

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” That quote by Ward, has directed and inspired my professional course. I’m fortunate to stand on the foundational shoulders of great mentors and have jumped in to medical education with both feet. I love the creativity of course development, enjoy the challenge of testing innovations like gamification and increasing fidelity of simulation. I’m passionate about reducing the knowledge translation gap by using Free Open Access Medical Education to equip students. I’m fueled by the lightbulb of “I get it” sparking, the proud smile of a successful procedure and thrive on helping students get back up again when they fall. Can you believe they pay us to do this?