Rachel Berger, MD, MPH graduated from Harvard University with a degree in biochemistry and attended medical school at Columbia University. She completed her pediatric internship and residency and a fellowship in general academic pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. During her fellowship, she completed a Master’s in Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.
For the past 10 years, she has been part of the Child Advocacy Center at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and a member of the hospital’s Child Protection Team. As a member of the Child Protection Team, she has been involved in the evaluation of thousands of children with suspected child abuse and neglect. She is also director of child abuse research at the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research at the University of Pittsburgh.
For the past decade, her clinical research has focused on the use of biomarkers to improve recognition of abusive head trauma, the leading cause of death from child abuse. She has received funding from multiple sources including the NIH, CDC and Department of Defense for her research. She has is also very involved in mentoring trainees from multiple disciplines who are interested in performing research related to pediatric brain injury TBI and child abuse. She is board certified in both pediatrics and child abuse medicine.