Dr. Rodriguez obtained her Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from New College of Florida, the honors college of the state university system of Florida. She then matriculated in the NIH-sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program at Case Western Reserve University at 19 years of age. She completed the M.D./Ph.D. program in six years. Dr. Rodriguez did her neurosurgery residency training at Wake Forest University Medical Center and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. During her residency, she was awarded an American Association of Neurological Surgeons Neurosurgery Research Education Foundation (AANS/NREF) research fellowship for her work in glioblastoma. She also was selected for a socio-economic fellowship from the Council of State Neurological Surgeons, a Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Leadership Fellow, and as a member at large of the Women in Neurosurgery (WINS) executive committee. Dr. Rodriguez completed her neurosurgical oncology fellowship at City of Hope National Medical Center, which specializes in immunotherapy trails. She is currently on the AANS/CNS Tumor Section and WINS executive committee and serves as the secretary of the Communication and Education Committee of the CSNS. Dr. Rodriguez is board-certified through the American Board of Neurological Surgeons (ABNS). She is the Director of Neurosurgical Oncology at UAMS and strives to bring novel therapies and trials to the state of Arkansas. She has an independent brain tumor research laboratory in the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.