Rev. Dr. Joanne Williams Cooper is a native of Baltimore, MD.  She attended the public schools there. She received her BA in economics from Morgan State University, and an MD from Case Western Reserve University Medical School.  She moved to Athens GA to fulfill a service obligation for the National Health Corps Scholarship. 

After completing that commitment, she worked at the University of GA Health Center and then worked for Peace Corps as the Area Peace Corps Medical Officer. She was stationed in Niamey, Niger in West Africa.  She also covered Chad and Mali during that assignment. Upon her return to the US around Christmas 1989, she began a 20-year career working in the Grady Satellite Clinics, and then worked at the Emory School of Medicine in medical education and with the Family Medicine residency program.  She earned a Master of Public Health in the International Track from Emory School of Medicine, during this time.

After returning from the Peace Corps, Dr. Williams Cooper worked with Minister’s Spouses and Widows Alliance.  She was later called to serve as the Sixth District Episcopal YPD Director for 8 years. 

When Bishop Jeffery Cooper was elected General Secretary/CIO of the AME Church in 2012, now Supervisor Williams Cooper found employment based in Tennessee. She has been working with the Neighborhood Health Clinics of Nashville for the past 8 years.  They are a Federally Qualified Health Clinic (FQHC) system which serves uninsured and underinsured patients.  

She was ordained a local elder in 2014, and she has enjoyed working with the Women’s Ministry at Trinity AME Church for the past 24 years.  Her seminary work was done at United Theological Seminary. 

After General Secretary Cooper was elected to the Episcopacy in August 2024, the new Bishop and Supervisor Cooper were assigned to the 18th District at the General Conference.  In December 2025, after the passing of Bishop Reginald Jackson, the Cooper team was given the addition of the 13th District.  They are happy to serve both districts. 

They are the proud parents of four children, and the proud grandparents of eight grandchildren. God is definitely blessing them, and they are thankful.