Emergency Medicine Residency Faculty

Tara Cassidy-Smith, MD, is the Program Director of the Emergency Medicine Residency at Cooper University Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She graduated cum laude from the College of the Holy Cross with a degree in Biology. She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship and studied in Innsbruck, Austria before matriculating in medical school. She earned her medical degree from UMDNJ/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School -Camden where she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. She then went on to complete an Emergency Medicine residency at Cooper University Hospital, where she was selected to be a Chief Resident. She is board certified in Emergency Medicine.

Dr. Cassidy-Smith is passionate about resident education. She is thrilled to be the program’s fourth Residency Director. She enjoys supporting the program’s social media platforms, both our EM Daily educational website and twitter handle. She enjoys innovating the curriculum for today’s learners and has worked with her team to implore many flipped classroom techniques.

Dr. Cassidy-Smith is also very passionate about the patient and the provider experience. She believes resiliency is built on the relationships with the patient at the bedside. She is a patient experience champion in the ED to improve both patient and physician experience. She enjoys caring for patients in all stages of life and spends a portion of her clinical time caring for children in the Pediatric Emergency Department at Cooper.

Alexis Pelletier-Bui, MD, is the Associate Program Director for the Emergency Medicine Residency Program and an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU). She graduated from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Camden Campus, in 2011. She completed her emergency medicine residency training at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, where she served as Chief Resident from 2013 to 2014. She has served as Co-Clerkship Director for the emergency medicine clerkship at CMSRU in the past and is currently one of the CMSRU Emergency Medicine Subspecialty Advisors. Dr. Pelletier-Bui is also Chair of the Cooper EM Clinical Competency Committee.

Dr. Pelletier-Bui's passions and research interests surround medical student advising and the residency application process. She is a past chair of the Council of Residency Directors (CORD) Advising Students Committee in Emergency Medicine (ASC-EM) and the CORD Application Process Improvement Committee.  She is currently a co-chair of the CORD eSLOE committee and serves on the CORD Board of Directors.   She is an associate editor for the Emergency Medicine Residents Association (EMRA) & CORD Student Advising Guide: An Evidence-Based Approach to Matching in EM and lectures nationally on the topics of evidence-based advising and residency application process improvement.  

Dr. Pelletier-Bui is an active mentor to medical students and residents and loves identifying leadership and professional growth opportunities for them. She serves as Faculty Co-Chair for the Cooper EM Social Media Committee (Instagram: @cooperem_residency and Twitter: @CooperEMed) as well as faculty chair for the Cooper EM Wellness, Community Service, and Recruitment Committees. 

Rachel Jennings, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and currently serves as the Assistant Program Director of the Emergency Medicine Residency at Cooper University. Dr. Jennings graduated from the University of Virginia where she was also a D1 student-athlete, serving as two-time captain of the varsity field hockey team. She received her medical degree from the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia where she was awarded membership to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society as well as the Gold Humanism Honor Society. Dr. Jennings completed her residency in Emergency Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN.  At Vanderbilt was the recipient of the Resident Didactic Teaching Award, ACE Clerkship Resident Teaching Award, and the Resident Bedside Teaching Award. Dr. Jennings then went on to serve as the inaugural fellow of the Medical Education Fellowship at Cooper during the 2022-2023 academic year. During her fellowship she built a strong foundation of educational principles and notably completed the MERC (medical education research certificate) through CORD and was award the Presidential Grant through the Macy Foundation. She continues to pursue her educational interests through her roles as Assistant Program Director of the EM residency and core faculty member of the Medical Education fellowship.

Richard Byrne, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU). He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Robert Wood Johnson Medical school (Camden campus). He completed his Emergency Medicine residency at Cooper, where he served as chief resident.

Dr. Byrne has worked in various roles in both undergraduate and graduate education. He contributed to the development of the fourth year Emergency Medicine Clerkship curriculum and has served as faculty advisor to the Emergency Medicine Interest group. In his role as Assistant and Associate Residency Director he designed and implemented a high-fidelity simulation and procedural education curriculum as well as a modern didactics curriculum. Dr. Byrne also works as an editor on the Cooper EM Residency educational FOAMed website EMDaily.

His research interests are in the fields of medical education and resource utilization in the Emergency Department. He has lectured regionally and nationally on a variety of topics including airway management and cognitive bias in medical decision making. Dr. Byrne’s primary passion is in the clinical education of medical students and residents in the Emergency Department.

Michael E Chansky, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. He received his medical degree at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in 1980 and was inducted into AOA. He trained in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and served as Chief Resident. From 1984-85, he was an instructor in medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) - Camden, teaching emergency medicine and internal medicine. At the conclusion of his chief resident year, he was recognized at HUP with the prestigious Donna McCurdy House Staff Teaching Award. In July of 1985, he returned to Cooper and accepted the position to direct emergency medicine and the third-year internal medicine clerkship at RWJMS/Camden. He is board certified in both internal medicine and emergency medicine.

Dr. Chansky’s teaching excellence was recognized with two Department of Medicine and eight RWJMS/Camden teaching awards. He was nominated twice for the UMDNJ Excellence Award for “Distinguished Service in Education”, and invited three times to recite the Hippocratic Oath at Convocation. In 1999 the RWJMS students nominated him as an Honorary Member of the RWJMS Alumni Association. In 1997, RWJMS established the 54th Academic Department of Emergency Medicine, and named him the founding Chair in 2000. In 2003, he was inducted in the Masters Education Guild at UMDNJ. He was awarded the Dorothy and Sol Sherry Award for Teaching Excellence in June of 2014, the highest honor an educator can receive at Cooper and the medical school.

Dr. Chansky was honored with the 2019 Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award from the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS). The Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Awards recognizes exemplars of clinical excellence and outstanding compassion in their delivery of care. Dr. Chansky was cited for “his tireless dedication to service to patients, families, colleagues, and the students at CMSRU”.

In 2023, Dr. Chansky was awarded the Diana Barton Award. This award recognizes the faculty member at Cooper who best demonstrates empathy, compassion and patient centered care.

Interests beyond spending time with his supportive family (Stephanie and Andrew, Peter, and Ben) have focused on the success of the Cooper Health System, serving as a board trustee and mentorship/development of students, residents, faculty and Cooper leaders. Dr. Chansky’s personal philosophy as a physician is embracing the privilege to be at the bedside, and treating each patient with the utmost respect, kindness, and empathy. The Department of Emergency Medicine has contributed significantly toward the development of our own four-year Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. Dr. Chansky continues to enjoy caring for patients and bringing young learners to the bedside.

Andrew L. Nyce, MD, is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Assistant Dean for Graduate Medical Education at CMSRU. After graduating from the Pennsylvania State University, he attended Jefferson Medical College where he earned his MD. He was a member of the founding class of the Emergency Medicine Residency Program at Cooper University Hospital and joined as a faculty member at Cooper immediately after residency. Over the past 20 years, he has served the Director of Undergraduate Medical Education, Program Director for a decade and is currently the Vice Chairman of the Department where he concentrates on education and ED operations. He has earned multiple teaching awards in addition to being awarded membership to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. Dr. Nyce has multiple publications and has contributed meaningfully to multiple educational innovations. He remains passionate and committed towards undergraduate and graduate medical education and serves on GMEC at Cooper to help mentor young programs and/or programs in need. He lectures on orthopaedic emergencies, bedside communication and leads a senior resident curriculum designed to assist residents as they transition out of residency to independent practice.  

Catherine (Kate) Ginty, MD, is the Medical Director of the Cooper Emergency Department and an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. A native of Philadelphia, she graduated from Colby College in 2003 with her BA and went on to complete a post-baccalaureate pre-health program at the University of Pennsylvania before attending the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where she received her medical degree in 2011. Dr. Ginty went on to complete her emergency medicine residency training at Cooper University Hospital, where she served as Chief Resident from 2013 to 2014. Afterward, she completed a fellowship in administration at Cooper University Hospital. As a part of her fellowship, Dr. Ginty earned her Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification. In addition to her role as Medical Director of the Cooper ED, Dr. Ginty also serves as the Medical Director of Process Improvement Office and lectures regularly on lean six sigma and process improvement methodology at both the medical school and graduate medical education level. She is also one of the founding board members of Cooper's Women in Medicine group.

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.

Brigitte M. Baumann MD, MSCE is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. In 1991, she graduated from Harvard University magna cum laude with a BA in Germanic Languages and Literature. She attended Cornell Medical College, where she was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha and received her medical degree in 1995. Dr. Baumann then went on to complete two years of an internal medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania. After an auspicious change in career plans, she completed her emergency medicine training at the University of Pennsylvania (1997-2000) and served as chief resident in her final year. She has been at Cooper Hospital since August 2000.

Early in her career, she earned her master's degree in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Baumann served as the Director for Clinical Research (2001-2002) and then as the Division Head for Clinical Research (2002-2014). To date, she has coauthored over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and nine book chapters. She has mentored hundreds of pre-medical students and scores of resident and faculty researchers. For her dedication to medical education, research and the practice of emergency medicine, she has received numerous awards, including an Academic Achievement Award (New Jersey ACEP, 2011) and South Jersey Magazine Top Physician (2012). Her current interests include her ongoing research and faculty development.

John Cafaro, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School at Rowan University. He currently serves as the Emergency Medicine Clerkship Director. Dr. Cafaro graduated from Rutgers University summa cum laude in 2011. He received his medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in 2016. He completed his residency in emergency medicine at Cooper University Hospital, where he was recognized as the Emergency Department’s Outstanding Resident of the Year. Dr. Cafaro’s primary passion is clinical education of medical students and residents in the Emergency Department. Dr. Cafaro enjoys leading didactics and white board cases as well as procedural and simulation cases. He also has an interest in modern delivery of medical education. Dr. Cafaro works as an editor on the Cooper emergency medicine residency educational FOAMed website, EMDaily.

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.  

Brian Freeze, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. After graduating from Villanova University with a degree in chemical engineering, he earned his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine. He went on to complete his emergency medicine residency at Cooper University Hospital, including serving as a chief resident. He joined as a faculty member at Cooper immediately after residency. Shortly after that he became board certified in Medical Informatics where he works at the intersection of technology and patient care. Improving workflows to be more efficient, safer, and intuitive. Currently he is the assistant Medical Director for the Emergency Department and also chairs many hospital-wide committees in his role as a Physician Informatician. His areas of interest include medical informatics, data science, and cognitive decision theory and personal finance.

Alison Jaworski, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU). She graduated from Lehigh University and received her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. She completed her emergency medicine residency at Boston Medical Center in Boston, MA. She is board certified in emergency medicine.

Dr. Jaworski enjoys being involved in undergraduate and graduate medical education at CMSRU. In addition to teaching on-shift in the emergency department, she assists with the resident procedure lab and simulation curriculum, teaches within the medical school ultrasound curriculum, and is co-director for the Cardiology 1 residency education module. She also works as a section editor on the Cooper EM Residency educational website, EMDaily.

Paul Karagiannis, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. After graduating from Villanova University with a degree in chemistry and a minor in political science, he earned his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College. He went on to complete his emergency medicine residency at Cooper University Hospital and he joined as a faculty member at Cooper immediately after residency.  He also works at Inspira Medical Center Mannington and serves as the Medical Director.  

Jared Klein, DO, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. He graduated from Binghamton University in New York, and received his medical degree from NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine in Old Westbury, NY. He completed his residency in emergency medicine at Cooper University Hospital and served as chief resident of the program from 2019-2020.

Dr. Klein’s interests are in both undergraduate and graduate medical education. He assists with the Emergency Medicine fourth-year clerkship and works to create new and innovative content, serves as the faculty advisor to the Emergency Medicine Interest Group, and assists in running the simulation and procedure curriculum in resident education. He is passionate about the education of medical students and residents inside and outside of the emergency department and believes that there is always an opportunity for teaching on every shift.

Anthony Mazzarelli, MD, JD, MBE, is Co-President/CEO of Cooper University Health Care and Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. Prior to his current role, Dr. Mazzarelli served as Cooper's Chief Physician Executive where he oversaw the physician practice, as well as quality/patient safety and continuous process improvement efforts for the health system, the same topics for which he teaches within the medical school and residency programs.

Dr. Mazzarelli received his medical degree from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, his law degree from University of Pennsylvania Law School and his master's in bioethics from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at Cooper University Hospital, where he served as Chief Resident in the last year of his training

Dr. Mazzarelli has been named one of the 50 most powerful people in New Jersey health care by NJ Biz as well as ROI-NJ and was awarded the Halo Award for leading a team of health care providers from Cooper into Haiti in the days immediately following the 2010 earthquake. Dr. Mazzarelli has also received numerous commendations for leadership and he speaks regularly on several local and national media outlets. As an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine he is a practicing physician and his research focuses on compassion science. He is the co-author of two bestselling books "Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes a Difference" and “Wonder Drug:  7 Scientifically Proven Ways that Serving Others is the Best Medicine for Yourself.”

Raquel Mora, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at CMSRU. She graduated from City College of the City University of New York in 1992. During this time was the recipient of 3 research awards, one of which was the Jonas E. Salk Award which is based on academic performance in scientific research in candidates pursuing a medical career. She obtained her Medical Doctorate from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - New Jersey Medical School in 1997. She completed her Emergency Medicine residency at the Brooklyn Hospital of New York in 2001 where she served as chief resident and received the teaching resident award and a dedication award from the night staff of the Emergency Department. She entered a Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellowship at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children during which time she pursued an interest in child abuse. 

Over the next 15 years, Dr. Mora worked extensively in child abuse evaluations, courtroom testimonies, teaching and creating practice guidelines, and developing a pediatric SANE program within the department at St. Christopher’s. Dr. Mora has also served as an officer in the Army reserves, discharged in 2010 after 12 honorable years of service.

Dr. Mora joined the Cooper family as a nocturnist in April 2016. She is dedicated to the bedside practice of emergency medicine and instruction of working within the resources limited to the nocturnist.  She has multiple chapters for pediatric emergency topics written in texts and continues to look for opportunities to combine the nocturnist life to didactic teachings.  

Sundip Patel, MD, is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Assistant Dean of Curriculum - Phase 2 at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU). Dr. Patel graduated from Villanova University summa cum laude and received his medical degree from UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School – Camden. He completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at Cooper University Hospital where he served as chief resident of the program. In addition, Dr. Patel completed the EMF/ACEP Teaching Fellowship Program to further enhance his skills in teaching medical students.

Since 2007, Dr. Patel has been working in the Emergency Medicine Department at Cooper University Hospital with a focus on medical education. He has taught and mentored numerous medical students during this time, closely guiding many into a career in Emergency Medicine. He served as the Emergency Medicine Clerkship Director at Cooper for 15 years.  During this time, Dr. Patel also served as the M4 Director at CMSRU for 5 years, concentrating on the overall curriculum of the fourth year while helping to create new elective rotations for students. He now serves as the Assistant Dean of Curriculum, Phase II, which oversees the third- and fourth-year student educational activities. Dr. Patel most recently helped develop the curriculum for the Medical Education Fellowship at Cooper where he serves as the Fellowship Director. 

In 2023, Dr. Patel was awarded the Sol Sherry Teaching Award. This is a peer-selected award which recognizes the faculty member at Cooper who excels in education, teaching and educational innovation.

His interests have included teaching learners how to be teachers, the use of technology in education, and the use of asynchronous learning to replace in-class lectures. Dr. Patel has received teaching awards for his efforts, including the Foundation of UMDNJ Excellence in Training Award.

Katherine Selman, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She graduated from NC State University and received her medical degree from Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. She completed her residency in emergency medicine at Cooper University Hospital, where she also served as chief resident and was recognized as Outstanding Resident of the Year. She completed a fellowship in geriatric emergency medicine at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC.

Dr. Selman leads initiatives to improve ED care for older adults and is working towards Geriatric Emergency Department accreditation for Cooper. She enjoys teaching residents and students about the unique considerations of geriatric medicine and challenging our perceptions of aging. Her particular areas of interest are medication management, cognitive impairment, and elder abuse.

Stephanie Smith, MD, is Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at CMSRU.  After completing her undergraduate degree at Bucknell University, Dr. Smith earned her medical deg​ree at Temple University School of Medicine. She then completed her emergency medicine residency at Cooper University Hospital, where she served as chief resident in her final year.  

Dr. Smith is passionate about undergraduate and graduate education.  In her role as Director of Student Affairs at CMSRU, Dr. Smith provides career advising and mentoring to medical students. She also frequently runs simulation sessions for fourth year medical students, and is a co-director for the summer emergencies/teaching residency education module.   

Sandra Nairn DO, is the Division Head of the Pediatric Emergency Department at Cooper University Hospital and an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.

She graduated from the University of Notre Dame and earned her medical degree at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Nairn completed a rotating internship at Parkview Hospital in Philadelphia and her residency in pediatrics at Cooper University Hospital, where she was chosen to be chief resident. She then completed a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, OH. Dr Nairn accepted an attending EM position at Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, KY, where she also served for several years as Medical Director of the Transport team, overseeing ground, fixed-wing, and helicopter transports. She returned “home” to Cooper in 1994 to help establish the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine within the EM Department.

Dr. Nairn is active on many hospital and medical school committees and serves as a conduit between the Departments of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at Cooper. She enjoys her roles in medical student and resident education and is passionate about developing the pediatric services at Cooper to provide quality care for the children of South Jersey.

Susana Collazo, MD, is an attending physician in the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. Dr. Collazo was born and raised in the city of Camden. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science from Rutgers University and her medical degree from Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU). Notably, she was one of the first Camden residents to graduate from the city's newly established medical school. Dr. Collazo completed her pediatric residency at Goryeb Children's Hospital/Morristown Medical Center followed by a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine at UCONN-Connecticut Children's Medical Center.

Her research and clinical interests include injury prevention, pediatric toxicology, quality improvement, and sedation. Dr. Collazo is committed to serving and advocating for underserved communities and at-risk youth. She is also involved in promoting diversity within the medical field and mentorship of medical students through her role within the Office of Diversity and Community Affairs at CMSRU.

Lisa Drago, DO, is the Pediatric EMS Medical Director at Cooper University Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She graduated from West Chester University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry. As an undergraduate Dr. Drago became involved in Emergency Medical Services as a volunteer EMT and was the EMS director for West Chester University EMS. She then earned her medical degree from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine where she was inducted into the PSI Sigma Alpha National Osteopathic Scholastic Honor Society. Dr. Drago completed a Pediatric Osteopathic Internship at Newark Beth Israel Hospital and a Pediatric Residency at Nemours/A.I. duPont Hospital for Children. She then went on to complete a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship at the Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper University. She is board certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and Emergency Medical Services.

Dr. Drago is passionate about prehospital education. She enjoys serving as faculty for Cooper’s EMS fellowship program and providing education to prehospital providers. Dr. Drago received a pediatric prehospital education grant from the Cooper Foundation to provide pediatric education and simulation for prehospital providers. Her special interests include addressing pediatric pain and safe transport of pediatric patients. She has had the privilege of speaking at The National Conference on EMS, EMS Today The JEMS Conference and Exposition, The EMS World Expo and many local/regional conferences.

Marci Fornari, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She graduated from Colgate University in Hamilton, NY with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and received her medical degree from Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, where she was a proud member of the inaugural class. She completed pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and pediatric emergency medicine fellowship and pediatric emergency ultrasound fellowship at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. She is board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Emergency Medicine. 

Dr. Fornari's main research interests are intimate partner violence screening within the pediatric healthcare setting, youth violence intervention programs, and expanding the use of point-of-care ultrasound in the pediatric emergency department. She is passionate about ensuring that children receive the same high-quality care, as it relates to their clinical experience and social determinants of health, at all emergency departments in which they seek care. She enjoys teaching and mentoring medical students and residents.

Michael Gillman, MD, is an attending physician in the Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Cooper University Hospital and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. He graduated from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada with a bachelor of commerce with a major in accounting and a minor in statistics. He went on to complete his medical degree in Poznan, Poland where he graduated with honors from the Poznan School of Medical Sciences. He then went on to complete his residency in pediatrics at New York Presbyterian Hospital Weil Cornell and his fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. He is board certified in pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine.

Elliott M. Harris, MD, is an attending physician in the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. 

He graduated from Franklin and Marshall College and received his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine.  Dr. Harris completed his residency in Pediatrics at New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center and received fellowship training in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri.  After training, Dr. Harris worked as an attending physician in the Pediatric Emergency Departments at University Hospital in Syracuse, New York and Temple University Children’s Hospital before coming to Cooper in 2001.

Dr. Harris is very involved with Graduate Medical Education at the hospital level and is a member of several committees related to GME.  He has been very active in PALS training at Cooper and for years served as PALS Regional Faculty for the American Heart Association.  Dr. Harris has a strong interest in simulation training for residents and does multiple sessions each year for both Emergency Medicine and Pediatric Residents in the Simulation Lab.

Ernika Quimby, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with degrees in biology and psychology and received her medical degree from the University of Chicago. She completed her pediatric residency at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago (Northwestern University) and pediatric emergency medicine fellowship at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. 

Dr. Quimby's main research interests are substance use and mental health in youth. She is passionate about advocating for underserved populations and mentoring underrepresented trainees. She enjoys medical student and resident education.​

Christopher Jones, MD, is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. He completed his undergraduate studies at Stanford University, and received his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School, where he was selected for the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. Dr. Jones pursued his residency training in emergency medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, serving as chief resident during his final year. After his residency training he completed a fellowship in emergency medicine administration in the Christiana Care Health System.

Dr. Jones is the Director of Clinical Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine. In this role he provides mentorship to students, residents, and faculty members engaged in clinical research in the Department of Emergency Medicine. He directs the department’s journal club curriculum, as well as the Academic Associate Program, which provides opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in clinical research in the emergency department. Dr. Jones has been an investigator on numerous industry and federally-funded grants. His specific research interests include clinical trial registration, the dissemination of results from clinical trials, and the study of chronically painful or disabling conditions.

Hope Kilgannon, MD, is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She completed her undergraduate studies at American University with a focus on Latin American Studies and received her medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, where she was selected for the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. Dr. Kilgannon pursued residency training in emergency medicine at the Cooper University Hospital, where she served as chief resident during her final year. 

Dr. Kilgannon began her career focused on medical education and served as clerkship director for a number of years. She was named EM Teaching Attending of the Year in 2006. During this time, she worked closely with fellow faculty to develop the on-shift teaching attending solely dedicated to bedside student education to improve the undergraduate EM clerkship experience. And, although she transitioned to a role in research over her tenure at Cooper, she remains actively involved in the monthly clerkship didactics and the students’ simulation education exercises as well as serving as teaching attending on clerkship shifts in the ED. Dr. Kilgannon is also an editor for the Cooper EM residency educational FOAMed website, EMDAILY.

Dr. Kilgannon’s greatest contribution to the field of EM has been with regard to the research related to the critical period of illness after return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) from cardiac arrest. Working closely with a multi-center research network, her group has explored hypotheses aimed at identifying target parameters after ROSC that might mitigate neurological devastation as well as identifying the severe psychological sequelae of suffering catastrophic illness. Her work on post-cardiac arrest care has been cited by multiple authors, including the “European Resuscitation Council and European Society of Intensive Care Medicine Guidelines for Post-resuscitation Care 2015” (Resuscitation, 2015) and the “2015 American Heart Association Guidelines Update for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care” (Circulation, 2015).

Brian Roberts, MD, MSc, is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. He graduated from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School with a Distinction in Service to the Community. He remained at Cooper University Hospital for his emergency medicine residency training and served as Chief Resident during his third year. After residency he joined as a faculty member in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Cooper University Hospital and completed a one-year resuscitation research fellowship, as well as completed the clinical research and translational medicine master’s program at Temple University. Dr. Roberts’ research has been funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) for more than six years. His current research interests include optimizing mechanical ventilation in critically ill patients, psychological sequalae among critically ill patients, and the effects of clinician compassion on clinical outcomes. 

Gerard Carroll, MD, is the Program Director of the Emergency Medical Services Fellowship at Cooper University Hospital and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. He graduated from Brandeis University with a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in History. As an undergraduate Dr. Carroll became passionate about Emergency Medical Services, and following graduation became certified as a Paramedic . He worked for nearly a decade in the New York City 911 system and was recognized for his service on the morning of the 9-11 attacks. He then earned his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School where he was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society. He competed Emergency Medicine Residency at Temple University Hospital and completed a fellowship in Emergency Medical Services at Cooper University Hospital. He is dual board certified in Emergency Medicine and Emergency Medical Services.

Dr. Carroll thrives on prehospital and disaster medicine and is passionate about resident, fellow, and especially about prehospital provider education. He was integral in the creation of our EMS fellowship and is excited to be the second Program Director. Dr. Carroll believes in the apprenticeship model of medical education and created Cooper’s prehospital physician response program to bring both physician level care to patients and to move the bedside teaching model to the prehospital arena. 

Dr. Carroll loves the practice of academic Emergency Medicine and Emergency Medical Services, and is not satisfied with the status quo. He believes strongly that EMS is a practice of medicine and as such needs to constantly be refocused on patient outcomes while optimizing its place in the healthcare system. He is a champion of nontraditional transport models, and helped spearhead the movement of addiction medicine into the field by educating paramedics about Opioid Use Disorder and training them to rescue patients in withdrawal with Medication Assisted Therapy using buprenorphine. Dr. Carroll loves the varied practice environments of EM and EMS making academic, rural, prehospital, austere disaster deployment, and even cruise ship medicine a part of his medical practice.

Dr. Rick Hong is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and in Emergency Medical Services.  He completed his Emergency Medicine Residency at Cooper University Hospital and is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in Economics in Health Care Management and Policy from the Wharton School.

During his time at Cooper as an attending emergency medicine physician since 2007, he established the Division of EMS/Disaster Medicine to focus on expansion of Cooper’s role regionally and state-wide.  He also has served in a variety of key leadership functions in Emergency Department/Health System/EMS and local/regional emergency management and became the Director of Special Projects and Operations within the Center of Urgent and Emergent Services (CUES), as well as the first Program Director of the ACGME-accredited EMS Fellowship and an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.  Prior to 2007, he was an attending emergency medicine physician at Christiana Care Health System where his role included the Associate Chairman for Emergency Preparedness and a Clinical Assistant Professor with Jefferson Medical College.  He has a developed a niche in public health, including his responsibilities as the Medical Director for the Southern NJ Medical Coordination Center, previous Co-Chair for the Southern NJ Regional Healthcare Coalition, and Medical Director for Camden County Health Department. He has also served on a variety of Boards, Councils and Task Forces related to public health, emergency management, preparedness, and EMS. 

Dr. Hong has been part of Delaware’s Division of Public Health (DPH) team since 2005 as the Office of Preparedness Medical Director. In this role, he has provided medical expertise to fulfill the mission of statewide healthcare preparedness in the setting of mass-casualty incidents, including chemical, biological, radiation, nuclear, traumatic, and natural hazards; served as the Medical Director of the Delaware Medical Reserve Corp; acted as the Medical Liaison Officer in the Incident Command of the State Health Operations Center; and has chaired the Delaware Ethics Advisory Group. He has worked on numerous projects related to infectious diseases in both the public health and healthcare settings, such as H1N1 Influenza, Ebola, and Zika. In November 2018, he was appointed as the State Medical Director of DPH, bringing his expertise in healthcare logistics and operations, EMS and emergency preparedness, and public health to expand his responsibilities of protecting the public and the healthcare infrastructure from critical threats.

Alexander Kuc, MD, serves as Assistant EMS Medical Director and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. He graduated from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry. Following an initial career in EMS he returned to school, earning a Master of Science in Nutrition from Columbia University, followed by his medical degree from St. George’s University. Alex began his Emergency Medicine residency training at Drexel University in Philadelphia before ultimately graduating from Cooper after the closure of Hahnemann University Hospital. He then completed an Emergency Medical Services fellowship at Cooper and has since stayed on as faculty.

Prior to medical school, Dr. Kuc worked as an EMT in the Hudson Valley region of New York, while also volunteering for Bard College EMS and eventually serving as Director. After moving to New York City he continued to work as an EMT for FDNY EMS, and spent two years working in Brooklyn and Harlem. These years in the prehospital environment have left a lasting impression on Alex, and have guided the path of his career. He now enjoys combining aspects of both prehospital and emergency department care in his practice, and brings a unique perspective when educating EMS providers as well as residents in the hospital. ​

Major (Maj.) Simon Sarkisian, DO, MS, FAAEM is a U.S. Army Reserve physician and attending physician in Cooper University Hospital's Department of Emergency Medicine. He is also the Emergency Physician on the 912th Forward Resuscitative Surgical Detachment (FRSD) based out of Cranston, Rhode Island.

Major Sarkisian was awarded the U.S. Army Health Professions Scholarship Program scholarship in 2011 and graduated from Touro University in California with a Doctor of Osteopathy degree in 2015. He attended the Emergency Medicine residency program at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center in Fort Hood, Texas. In 2018 he graduated from his residency program as a chief resident. Maj. Sarkisian's first duty assignment after graduation was at Cooper University Hospital as part of the Army Medical Department Trauma Team Training (AMCT3) program.

In 2020 to 2021, he was deployed to Baghdad, Iraq with the 115th Field Hospital as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. In 2021, he was deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan with the 274th FRSD and 82nd Airborne Division to assist in the evacuation of Afghan refugees as part of the XVIII Airborne Corps Immediate Response Force (IRF). In 2022 he deployed to Romania with the 240th FRSD for the Russian invasion of Ukraine as part of the XVIII Airborne Corps IRF. Maj. Sarkisian enjoys teaching medical students, residents, and military/diplomatic rotators as well as improving Cooper's disaster medicine and preparedness programs. Maj. Sarkisian has authored/co-authored numerous publications in emergency and military medicine. His interests also include operational/austere medicine, disaster medicine, and emergency preparedness.

Maj. Sarkisian currently serves as the Medical Director of Disaster Medicine in the Division of EMS and Disaster Medicine.

To learn more about Cooper's Center for Disaster and Austere Medicine, visit https://cooperhealth.org/services/disaster-medicine.

Aman Shah, MD, serves as the Associate EMS Medical Director, Associate EMS Fellowship Director and Clinical Faculty of Emergency Medicine at the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.  He graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and a minor in Spanish Literature.  He attended Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and graduated with Distinction in Service to the Community.  He completed his Emergency Medicine Residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, during which time he served as chief resident during his fourth year.  Aman completed his Emergency Medical Services Fellowship at Yale University prior to starting at Cooper. 

Dr. Shah started his career in EMS as a volunteer EMT with the Lopatcong Emergency Squad in New Jersey while he was in high school.  He continued his prehospital pursuits as an undergraduate at Penn with the Medical Emergency Response Team, where he served as Captain during his senior year. 

Dr. Shah is incredibly passionate about both prehospital medicine and emergency medicine.  He strives to bridge the gap between the two fields, especially incorporating EM clinical practice to further the field of EMS.

Lisa Filippone, MD, is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She graduated from the University of Maryland cum laude with a degree in biology, after which she attended Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University.  Upon receiving her medical degree she completed her residency in emergency medicine at Cooper University Hospital. After residency, she worked as an attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Drexel University until she returned to Cooper in 2007.

Dr. Filippone is passionate about resident education with a particular focus on cardiology and ultrasound. She is a member of the EM Ultrasound division and, together with the core US faculty, provides one-on-one instruction during the US rotation. While Dr. Filippone is involved in a wide range of cardiology activities at Cooper, she is particularly enthusiastic with her weekly ECG conferences.  

Joshua Rempell, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and Director of the emergency ultrasound fellowship. He completed medical school at Harvard Medical School and received a master's of public health degree at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Rempell completed his emergency medicine residency training in the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency Program (HAEMR) at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he served as chief resident. Following residency, Dr. Rempell completed an ultrasound fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to joining Cooper, he was faculty and ultrasound fellowship director at Brigham and Women’s Hospital as well as Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School.  

Dr. Rempell has lectured extensively nationally and internationally on emergency ultrasound as well as published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles on emergency ultrasound. He truly enjoys teaching clinical emergency medicine, often with an ultrasound at the bedside.  ​

Sarab Sodhi, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and currently serves as Director of Undergraduate Ultrasound there. He graduated from Albright College with a degree in biochemistry and philosophy, summa cum laude, ​and obtained his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine. While there, he also obtained a master's in urban bioethics. He completed his residency in emergency medicine at Cooper University Hospital, and stayed on for fellowship in emergency ultrasound as Cooper's inaugural fellow. Since 2019, Dr. Sodhi has been core ultrasound and clinical faculty working in the Emergency Medicine Department at Cooper University Hospital.

Dr. Sodhi has passion for all things ultrasound, and graduate and undergraduate medical education. He's lectured frequently, locally, regionally, and nationally. While a recalcitrant researcher, he has a developing research niche with various projects ongoing regarding student and resident education, ultrasound, and pre-hospital ultrasound. Along with Dr. Volino, they have created a four-year integrated longitudinal ultrasound curriculum for the medical school. He was most recently awarded the 2019 Gold Humanism Award for CMSRU, the 2020 Golden Apple for clinical faculty, and was inducted into the Gold Humanism Society as the junior faculty member in 2024.

Alyse Volino, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. After completing her undergraduate degree at The College of New Jersey, she earned her medical degree at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She then completed her residency in emergency medicine at Cooper University Hospital, serving as chief resident in her final year. After residency, Dr. Volino completed a fellowship in emergency ultrasound at Cooper University Hospital. 

In addition to working in the Emergency Department, Dr. Volino is the Associate Director of Undergraduate Ultrasound at CMSRU. In this role, she contributes to the design and implementation of the undergraduate ultrasound curriculum, serves as a faculty advisor for CMSRU’s Ultrasound Interest Group, and is one of the clerkship directors for the Emergency Ultrasound elective for medical students.

Rachel Haroz, MD, FAACT, is Medical Director of the Cooper University Health Care Center for Healing, Division Head of Toxicology and Addiction Medicine at Cooper University Health Care, and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine (EM) at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU). She is triple-board certified in EM, medical toxicology, and addiction medicine, obtaining her bachelor of arts degree in biology from Brandeis University and medical degree from Tufts University, and completing a residency in EM and fellowship in medical toxicology.

She has spent nearly her entire career thus far working in inner city emergency departments (ED), mostly in the Camden, New Jersey area where opioid intoxication, abuse, and dependency are rampant. She helped build and now staffs the Center for Healing in Camden, an addiction medicine specialty clinic dedicated to treating patients with SUD. Further she helped build an integrated clinic for patients with HIV and SUD.

In 2016, Dr. Haroz helped create and implement an initiative to prescribe buprenorphine from the ED and "bridge" patients to treatment to various community partners (now known as CUH EDAP, Cooper University Health Care Emergency Department Addiction Pathways). In 2019, she helped launch an innovative program aimed at initiating buprenorphine via paramedics in the field (now known as Bupe FIRST EMS, Buprenorphine Field Initiation of ReScue Treatment). She is also heavily involved in the education of residents, medical students, and pharmacists, and organizes education forums focused on topics related to opioid dependency and treatment.

Follow Dr. Haroz on Twitter.

Matthew Salzman, MD, MPH, graduated from Jefferson Medical College, now the Sidney Kimmel Medical College, and trained in Emergency Medicine and Medical Toxicology at Drexel University College of Medicine. He recently completed his master’s in public health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. He is the Medical Director of the Addiction Medicine Consult Liaison Service at Cooper University Health Care as well as the Medical Director of Research for Cooper’s Center for Healing.

Dr. Salzman is board-certified in Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology, and Addiction Medicine. He is a volunteer consultant at the Philadelphia Poison Control Center and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and an attending physician in Emergency Medicine and Addiction Medicine at Cooper University Health Care. In addition to working with medical students, residents, and fellows in the Emergency Department and throughout the hospital, Dr. Salzman lectures locally, regionally, and nationally. He has academic interest in allostatic load and resilience in individuals with substance use disorders, as well as acute pain management for people with opioid dependence and opioid use disorder.