Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Faculty

Talia K. Ben-Jacob MD, MSc, is the Division Head of Critical Care Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology at Cooper University Hospital (CUH) and Associate  Professor of Anesthesiology at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU). She received her BS degree and MSc degree from Cornell University. She graduated from the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont College with her MD. She then completed her anesthesiology residency at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ, and critical care medicine fellowship at Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University in St. Louis, MO. She returned to Cooper University Hospital after fellowship graduation where she currently practices a mix of anesthesiology and critical care in a multidisciplinary intensive care unit. She has been awarded the Department of Anesthesiology Resident Champion Award in 2017, 2018, and 2019. She was also the recipient of the 2019 Cooper University Hospital Junior Faculty of the Year Award.

Dr. Ben-Jacob is also very active in her professional societies. She is a member of the SOCCA Education Committee and Research Committee. She is the founding Co-Chair of the Society of Critical Care Medicine Women in Critical Care Knowledge and Education group as well as member-at-large of Anesthesiology Section Steering Committee. Dr. Ben-Jacob also currently serves on the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Committee on Critical Care Medicine and Committee on Young Physicians. During her tenure on these committees, Dr. Ben-Jacob was chair of the revision of the Anesthesia-ACLS: First Response to Circulatory Crisis in the OR online CME module, a joint ASA/SOCCA initiative. In addition to her active roles in professional organizations, she is very involved in her hospital system and medical school. She is also a mother to three young amazing individuals.

Emily Damuth, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She graduated summa cum laude from Colgate University in 2004 with a degree in molecular biology. She received her medical degree from the University of Michigan where she was selected for Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. She trained in emergency medicine at Duke University Medical Center prior to completing fellowship in critical care medicine at Cooper University Hospital.

Dr. Damuth splits her clinical time between the emergency department and multidisciplinary critical care units. She received the Diane Barton Caring Award in 2020 and was nominated as a champion of humanism for the Arnold P. Gold Foundation in 2021. Dr. Damuth serves as an Assistant Program Director for the Critical Care Medicine fellowship at Cooper and helps oversee the ECMO program. She teaches mechanical ventilation through didactic lectures and simulation. She is passionate about medical education and is an advisory college director at CMSRU. She enjoys mentoring medical students, residents and fellows and received a Golden Apple Teaching Award in 2020.  

Dr. Phillip Dellinger is Professor and Chairman of Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. He is Medicine Service Chief at Cooper University Hospital and Medical Director of Adult Health Institute. He was previously the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) governor for both Texas and Missouri. Dr. Dellinger was president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) from 1998-1999. He is currently associate editor for the SCCM’s journal, Critical Care Medicine. He is the creator of the SCCM Fundamental Critical Care Support (FCCS) course now translated into 5 languages and taught around the world. Dr. Dellinger has authored over 250 journal articles and book chapters as well as edited over 30 books and journal issues in the field of critical care medicine.

His primary academic interests are new innovative sepsis therapies, sepsis management, sepsis performance improvement and clinical trial design. He co-edited the second, third and fourth editions of the major critical care textbook, Critical Care Medicine (Mosby). He has received numerous awards and honors, including induction into the Baylor College of Medicine Teaching Hall of Fame, the SCCM’s Distinguished Service Award, the Dorothy & Sol Sherry Award for Teaching Excellence Award, and he was selected for full membership in the Academy of Master Educators at Cooper Medical School at Rowan University, at rank of Distinguished Scholar. He is a fellow of the ACCP and was inducted as a Master Fellow in the College of Critical Care Medicine in 2012 (one of 20 initial inductees spanning the 40-year history of SCCM). In 2015 he became the 15th recipient of the SCCM’s Lifetime Achievement Award in the 42 year history of that organization. 

Dr. Dellinger was an associate chair of the 1992 consensus conference that created the first definitions for sepsis and chaired the 1997 National Institutes of Health (NIH)/ American College of Chest Physicians work- shop, “The Future of Sepsis Research.” He is past chairman of the International Sepsis Forum (ISF), currently serves on the ISF Governing Council and was co-chair of the 2012 ISF Scientific Colloquium on Clinical Trial Design held at the NIH. He serves on the executive committee of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC). He was co-chair and lead author of the 2013 SSC Guidelines for the Management of Severe Sepsis, now sponsored by 30 international scientific organizations. He previously served on the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) ICU Collaborative Advisory Board and the Rhode Island Hospital Association Sepsis Performance Improvement Collaborative.  He currently serves as lead faculty for the New Jersey Hospital Association Sepsis Performance Improvement Collaborative. He is currently one of two content leads for The Maryland Hospital Association and Maryland Patient Safety Council’s Statewide Collaborative on Sepsis Performance Improvement.

Dr. Potestio grew up in the Philadelphia area. He attended medical school at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and completed his Intern year in Internal Medicine at Cooper University Hospital. He completed Anesthesia residency at Georgetown University in Washington, DC and fellowship in Adult Critical Care Medicine at Columbia University in New York.

Dr. Potestio's academic interests include medical education, perioperative handoff, trauma and resuscitation. In his free time, he runs along the Schuylkill River and is an avid reader.

Antoinette Spevetz, MD, FCCM, FACP, is a graduate of Hahnemann University Medical School. She trained as an intern and resident at Abington Memorial Hospital, where she was selected to be a Chief Resident. She then completed a fellowship in Critical Care Medicine followed by a fellowship in Pulmonary Medicine, both at Cooper University Hospital. After her fellowships, Dr. Spevetz became an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Florida at Jacksonville, where she was Director of the Intermediate Care Unit and became actively involved in residency education. After four years in Florida, Dr.Spevetz took a position as Director of Critical Care for Upper Chesapeake Health System in Maryland, where she also served as Chief of Pulmonary Medicine. Dr. Spevetz is very involved in national critical care organizations, including the Society of Critical Care Medicine, where she is the past Chancellor of the Board of Regents. She is also active in graduate and continuing medical education, serving as a member of the Liaison Committee to the American Board of Internal Medicine as well as several guideline committees. Dr. Spevetz was the 2007 recipient of the Critical Care Teaching Award. Dr. Spevetz was also a former President of the Internal Medicine Section of the SCCM and prior Chair of the ABIM Critical Care Medicine review courses. Dr. Spevetz is Director of the Intermediate Care Unit as well as Director of Operations for the Intensive Care Unit at Cooper. In 2009, Dr. Spevetz was appointed Senior Medical Director of Education within the Office of Academic and Medical Affairs and Designated Institutional Official for all Cooper Residency & Fellowship Programs for our ACGME Accreditation.

Swarna Rajagopalan, MD, MS, is a neurologist and neurocritical care specialist with expertise in the resuscitation and management of acute brain injured patients. She trained in neurology and completed a fellowship in neurocritical care, followed by a master's in translational science and research. She is passionate about medical education and enjoys teaching medical students, residents, and fellows. Her clinical interests are focused on early identification and prevention of secondary brain injury after catastrophic diseases that affect the neurological system, such as subarachnoid hemorrhage, status epilepticus, traumatic brain injury, and large ischemic strokes or intracerebral hemorrhages. Currently, research interests are focused on invasive intracranial monitoring and resuscitation of critically ill neurological patients in the intensive care unit (ICU).