Patrice Baptista, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree at Wake Forest University and received her medical degree from Cooper Medical School of Rowan University where she was honored with a distinction for “Excellence in Service”. She completed her emergency medicine residency training at Cooper University Health Care/CMSRU and joined faculty at Cooper/CMSRU upon completion of her residency training.  

Dr. Baptista is deeply committed to serving the community beyond hospital walls. Her passion for giving back extends to mentoring aspiring health care professionals, especially those underrepresented in medicine, to help create a more diverse and inclusive health care workforce. Additional interests include patient experience, and she serves as a patient experience champion in the emergency department to help promote compassionate and humanistic care for all patients.

Donald A. Barone, DO, MBA, received his BA in Biological Sciences from Rutgers College and his DO from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He served as a neurology resident at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, trained by Dr. Charles Poser and Dr. George Schumacher, two of the pioneers in Multiple Sclerosis research and clinical care. Following residency, he was awarded a Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA)-funded fellowship in Neuromuscular Diseases under the tutelage of Dr. Lewis Rowland, Chair of Neurology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Some of his early research involved microphysiological and electron microscopic study of the neuromuscular junction in the sternothyroid muscle from the animal model of Myasthenia Gravis.

Dr. Barone directed a grant-funded MDA clinic for over 30 years. His focus on Clinical Neuro-Immunology/Multiple Sclerosis evolved over the last 25 years, coinciding with the evolution of immunotherapies for Multiple Sclerosis and related disorders. He is a well-recognized expert in the clinical care and clinical research of Multiple Sclerosis and related-disorder patients. He has published and presented research findings at multiple domestic and international venues. He has been a medical educator his whole career, coming to Cooper from Rowan University SOM, where he was Professor and Chief, Division of Neurology. He earned his MBA in 2018 from Temple University Fox School of Business. He has cultivated an interest in health care business operational and financial models, especially as they evolve to accommodate the expected future changes in health care economic and re-imbursement models.

Areas of interest: I am dedicated to providing compassionate care to marginalized populations and promoting Family medicine through education and advocacy.  My interests are resident and medical student education, reproductive health, chronic pain, substance use disorder, gender affirming care, wellness, advocacy and community medicine.

Hobbies: When not at work I love being active through hiking, running, yoga and dance. I am also a huge fan of live music; both seeing concerts and playing the ukulele with family and friends.

Why am I passionate about Family Medicine? Family medicine allows me to care for every person that walks into clinic. It also encouraged the building of trusting relationships and integration into the community that I serve. This allows me to treat the entire patient including their health, social determinants, and their family members! Family Physicians can do it all!