Kaitlan Baston, MD, MSc, DFASAM

Kaitlan Baston, MD, MSc, is the Division Head of Addiction Medicine, Medical Director of the Center for Healing, and Medical Director of Government Relations at Cooper University Health Care in Camden, NJ. She is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, and is dual boarded in Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine. Dr. Baston obtained a master’s degree in neuroscience from Kings College London and then graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. She pursued full spectrum family medicine training with obstetrics in Seattle, Washington; and her work in primary care illuminated the stigma and marginalization associated with addiction. She observed that both patients and medical professionals suffer from the lack of addiction medicine training and integration into health care. With the goals of community centered health care delivery, population health improvement, and hospital system quality improvement, she completed an American board of addiction medicine (ABAM) accredited fellowship in addiction medicine. Following her training, she returned to the east coast to begin her career. In 2015 she became the medical director of Cooper’s Addiction Medicine Program and built what is now the Center for Healing. The Center includes integrated pain, addiction, and behavioral health care; an inpatient addiction consult service; outpatient specialty clinics; a wrap-around perinatal substance use disorder program; undergraduate and graduate medical education in addiction medicine; research; and several million dollars in grant funded programming. This work expanded to state and national level policy in the field of addiction medicine, and beyond. Currently, Dr. Baston is focused on work at a policy level to support state-funded programs for substance use disorder treatment and improvements in population health by addressing social determinants of health. In her role as Medical Director of Government Relations, she strives to ensure that all patients have access to compassionate care and evidence-based medical treatments that allow them to live full and satisfying lives. Dr. Baston is proud to work with an interdisciplinary team of like-minded, driven individuals at Cooper, dedicated to making positive change in the health care system.