Barnes named Northwest Young Alumni Professional Achievement Award winner

By Sarah Smith

Jan 13, 2025- Northwest Mississippi Community College has named Dr. Robert Barnes of Hernando, a primary care physician at Panola Medical Center in Batesville, as the recipient of the Young Alumni Professional Achievement Award and will honor him at the Northwest Soiree, Masquerade Among the Stars, on March 29. The Soiree is the college’s premiere fundraising and community recognition event held by the Northwest Foundation at the Heindl Center for the Performing Arts.

Dr. Barnes was from just up the road in Coldwater before heading south in 2010 when he started his first years as a Ranger in Senatobia. Determined to become a doctor, Dr. Barnes had many supportive instructors challenging and strengthening him through the following years with lessons that persist to this day. One that sticks with Dr. Barnes was a simple question of motivation: “What does it mean to you to be a doctor?” This question was posed by one of his science instructors, Dr. Stacy Jones.

“I had this idea of what a doctor was,” said Dr. Barnes. “But you really don’t know.”

Dr. Jones recounted the conversation with a smile. The earnest student said he hoped to help people. Dr. Jones prompted him to think deeper, encouraging him by saying there’s many ways to help people, but what did it really mean to him to be a doctor and how will that help people?

“Immediately after he said that, I took it upon myself to try to get more hours, shadowing, and working alongside physicians that practice in primary care,” said Dr. Barnes.

That conversation and experience was foundational in figuring out what kind of doctor he hoped to be. Dr. Barnes wanted to help those in rural communities like he’d grown up in, to help them get the best health care in their hometowns which traditionally have been underserved.

Through the pursuit of becoming a good doctor, he won a prestigious scholarship for those seeking to be rural health care providers. This scholarship paid his way through his medical school at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson in exchange for him staying in a rural area to provide health care after graduation. He earned his undergraduate degree at Delta State University, which was paid for by a Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship that he earned while attending Northwest.

Another one of Dr. Barnes’ instructors, Dr. Robert McPherson, said anyone could tell that Dr. Barnes was an exceptional student in his time at Northwest, but more than that, he had something more about him–an ability to set people at ease.

“The thing that I remember most about Robert was his sense of humor,” Dr. McPherson said. “He was willing to tease me and be teased back. He didn’t get offended. He was playful. And it’s always enjoyable to have students like that in your class.”

That sense of humor and ability to build a good rapport with those around him undoubtedly has helped him as he has built relationships with patients to help them on their health journey.

Dr. Barnes said he aims to treat his clients like family, being patient and compassionate with them. One of his methods is as he goes through their chart, he sits next to them to explain all the results and what they mean.

Both of his instructors said that they were unsurprised by him being chosen for this award as he’s always been an exceptional person with a bright future. Dr. Barnes, thankful for this award, said that he couldn’t have done it without all the instructors, mentors, and teachers as well as his family, especially his wife, who supported him as he went through med school and now beyond.

Patti Gordon, Executive Director of Institutional Advancement states, “We are proud that Dr. Barnes started his journey at Northwest and he has become well respected in the medical community. We invite you to the Northwest Soiree and help us celebrate his success.”

If you’d like to learn more about Northwest, the Foundation, or the Northwest Soiree, please visit northwestms.edu/foundation. To purchase tickets for the Soiree, please visit www.heindlcenter.org.