Coburn Allen, M.D.

Dr. Allen is a board-certified pediatrician with additional fellowship training, board certifications and active practices in pediatric emergency medicine and pediatric infectious diseases. Dr. Allen in the founder and current director of the UT Austin Dell Medical School Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship, and he is the National Director of Pediatric Services for US Acute Care Solutions. He serves as the active chair for the faculty senate at Dell Medical School and is the chair or vice chair of two local institutional review boards that oversee the ethics of human subject research. Dr. Allen is an active clinical researcher and focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of acute infectious diseases in children. Additionally, Dr. Allen has been involved in global health work for two decades in various capacities with a focus on building local capacity through medical education.

Ana Avalos, M.D.

Dr. Avalos currently works at Dell Medical School in the Department of Pediatrics as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Avalos also does Clinical Pediatrics for CommUnity Care Health Center. Dr. Avalos studied medicine at the Universidad Francisco Marroquin School of Medicine. Dr. Avalos has previously held positions with Cook Children's Neighborhood Clinics, Washington County Regional Medical Center, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Mercer University School of Medicine, and more.

Tony Aventa, M.D.

Dr. Aventa graduated from UT Health Science Center at San Antonio in 1996. He enlisted in the US Air Force, completed his service practicing internal medicine, and was a physician for the residency program at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Dr. Aventa, a board-certified in Internal Medicine has practiced at Capital Medical Clinic in Austin since 2002. In 2019, he served as President of the Travis County Medical Society.

Karen Brust, M.D.

Dr. Brust works at Baylor Scott and White Health (BSWH) in the Infectious Disease Division as an Assistant Professor and serves as the Medical Director for the Central Texas Division of BSWH Infection Prevention and Control. Dr. Brust studied medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Medicine. Dr. Brust previously held positions with Bell County Public Health District, Scott and White Hospital, and the University of Texas Health Science Center.

Eric Higginbotham, M.D.

Dr. Higginbotham currently works in the Department of Pediatrics at Dell Medical School as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, and as the Division Chief Pediatric Emergency Medicine for the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas. Dr. Higginbotham has previously worked at the University of Texas – Southwestern, the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Brackenridge Hospital, and Duke University Medical Center. He is board certified in general pediatrics and emergency medicine. Dr. Higginbotham completed his medical degree at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. 

Craig Franke, M.D.

Dr. Franke, boarded in General Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer of Integral Care and as the Medical Director for Behavioral Services at Texas Neuro Rehab. Previously, Dr. Franke has served as the Medical Directors for Promises Austin, Spirit Lodge, and Austin Recovery substance use disorder rehabilitation programs. Additionally, he has served with Scott & White Memorial Hospital, where he acted as Medical Director of the Alcohol and Drug Dependency Treatment Program as well as Senior Staff Physician in Psychiatry. He also holds faculty appointments with UT Dell Medical School and Texas A&M University College of Medicine. Over the years Dr. Franke has also presented and been published in articles, books, and peer-reviewed publications on various topics involving psychiatry and substance abuse.

Liam Fry, M.D.

Dr. Fry currently works as the president and owner of Austin Geriatric Specialists and Division Chief of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at UT Dell Medical School. Dr. Fry is also the attending physician for geriatric patients at several skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities in the Austin area, and medical director at several nursing facilities. Additionally, Dr. Fry serves as a palliative physician and director of the inpatient palliative care consult service at Seton Medical Center Williamson, Seton Medical Center Hays, and Cedar Park Regional Medical Center. Dr. Fry completed her medical education at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.

David Lakey, M.D.

Dr. Lakey serves in a dual role as the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Chief Medical Officer at The University of Texas System, and as Senior Advisor to the President and Professor of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center Tyler. Dr. Lakey serves as the executive sponsor for the Texas Collaborative for Healthy Mothers and Babies, the executive sponsor for the Texas Health Improvement Network, and as the presiding officer of the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium. Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Lakey was the Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. During his tenure, he led his agency’s response through numerous high-profile events including the H1N1 pandemic, multiple hurricanes, and the Dallas response to Ebola.

Jonathan MacClements, M.D.

Dr. MacClements is currently the Associate Dean and DIO of Graduate Medical Education at Dell Medical School. Dr. MacClements also serves as a professor in the Department of Medical Education and Courtesy Professor in the Department of Population Health. Dr. MacClements completed his education at the University of the Witwatersand. Dr. MacClements also completed residencies in family medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, and in ear, nose and throat surgery at the University of Pretoria.

Brian Metzger, M.D.

Dr. Metzger currently works as the Director of Infectious Diseases for Cornerstone Hospital of Austin, Cornerstone Hospital of Round Rock, St. David's Heart Hospital of Austin, St. David's Georgetown Hospital, St. David's North Austin Medical Center, and St. David's Medical Center. Dr. Metzger completed his education at the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. Metzger previously worked with the Emory University School of Medicine, Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta Tuberculosis Prevention Coalition, and Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Jewel Mullen, M.D.

Jewel Mullen, MD, MPH, MPA is an Associate Dean and an Associate Professor of Population Health and Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Austin Dell Medical School, and Director of Health Equity at Ascension Seton. She formerly served as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health and the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She has contributed leadership for the governmental responses to the Ebola and Zika epidemics, as well as several other public health emergencies.

Luke Padwick, M.D.

Dr. Padwick is an Emergency Medicine physician with experience in hospital ERs, and freestanding ERs. Dr. Padwick is the founder and CEO of the Austin Emergency Center freestanding ER group, where he manages the 45 Emergency Medicine physicians staffing those 4 facilities. Dr. Padwick has also served on the Boards of Directors for the Texas Association of Freestanding Emergency Centers (TAFEC) and Ambry Genetics Corp. (molecular biology). Dr. Padwick holds a BA in Quantitative Economics from Stanford University, and an MD from UT-Southwestern Medical School.  He completed a residency in Emergency Medicine at King/Drew Medical Center, in Los Angeles, and is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine.

Alan Schalscha, D.O.

Dr. Alan Schalscha serves as Chief Medical Officer for CommUnityCare Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Health Center that serves low income, underserved and underinsured residents of Travis County who have limited access to healthcare. Dr. Schalscha is an associate professor in the Department of Population Health at The University of Texas Dell Medical School. He graduated from the University of Texas with two bachelor's degrees and a master's degree prior to entering medical school. He received his medical degree from Midwestern University and completed his residency in Family Medicine at St. Joseph's Hospital & Medical Center. For the past 19 years Dr. Schalscha has volunteered for DOCARE International, an international humanitarian organization that sponsors numerous medical missions annually. As Mission Medical Director, he annually leads a team of 70-100 providers and students to Guatemala and was instrumental in the establishment of 2 permanent continuity clinics San Andres and Tecpan.

Rama Thyagarajan, M.D.

Rama Thyagarajan, M.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin and provides infectious diseases care at Dell Seton Medical Center at UT Austin. Before coming to Dell Med, Thyagarajan was a physician leader at Beaumont Health, the largest health care system in Michigan, where she served as clinical chief of the Infection Prevention and Epidemiology Clinical Care Program and corporate medical director of Infection Prevention and Epidemiology.

Christopher Ziebell, M.D.

Dr. Ziebell is the Emergency Department Medical Director at the Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas, the only adult level 1 trauma center in central Texas.  He is has served as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Seton Family of Hospitals and is currently the chair of the Quality and Patient Safety Committee.  He is the Medical Director of Seton Medical Center at Circuit of the Americas and Executive Director of the Seton Event Medicine Institute.  He serves on the Clinical Governance Board of US Acute Care Solutions - Southwest.  He has served as Chief of Staff of the Seton Family of Hospitals in Austin, TX, and at Seton Northwest and Seton Southwest Hospitals.  He was a founding partner of Emergency Service Partners. Dr. Ziebell graduated his Emergency Medicine Residency at William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan in 1993 and is a 1990 graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Medicine.  He became Board Certified in Emergency Medicine in 1994, and recertified in 2003 and 2012.