New Release
Northwest Mississippi Community College has named Dr. Robert Barnes, a primary care
physician at Progressive Health 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. He 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.
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.
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.