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Rachel P. Berger, MD, MPH
- Director, Child Abuse Research, Safar Center for Resuscitation Research, University of Pittsburgh
- Regional Director, Child Abuse Outreach
- Adjunct Faculty, Duquesne University School of Nursing
Rachel Berger MD, MPH is the Medical Director of the Pennsylvania Office of Children, Youth and Families. Prior to taking this position in July 2024, she was Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical and Translational Research at the University of Pittsburgh, a Child Abuse Pediatrician at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) and Director of Child Abuse Research at the Safar Center. She continues to work with UPMC CHP Child Protection Team and is on leave from the University of Pittsburgh. She serves as the President of Steering Committee of the national Child Abuse Clinical Decision Support Consortium (www.ca-cds.org). She served as chief of the division of Child Advocacy at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh from 2013 until 2022. She has co-authored over 130 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and was the first child abuse pediatrician to be elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation. She served on the Pennsylvania Task Force for Child Protection, was the research lead for the Federal Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities (CECANF) during the Obama administration and served as a senior policy fellow for Casey Family Programs in 2019.
Professional and Scientific Society Memberships
- Alpha Omega Alpha, 1996-Present
- Fellow, American Academy of Pediatrics, 1996-Present
- American Academy of Pediatrics – Member of Section on Child Abuse and Neglect, 1996-Present
- International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), 2002-2008 and 2011-Present
- Helfer Society (Honorary Society for experts and leaders in the field of child abuse and neglect), 2004-Present
- Society for Pediatric Research (SPR), 2005-Present
- Pediatric Trauma Society, 2011-Present
- Helfer Society Research Committee, 2012-Present
- American Pediatric Society (APS), 2014-Present
- Pennsylvania Medical Society, 2017-Present
- The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), 2018-Present
Education & Training
- BA, Biochemistry, cum laude, Harvard University, 1992
- MD, Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons, 1996
- Internship/Residency in Pediatrics, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 1996-1999
- Fellowship in General Academic Pediatrics, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 1999-2001
- MPH, University of Pittsburgh, 2001
Selected Publications
Krawiec C, Gerard S, Iriana S, Berger R, Levi B. What we can learn from failure: an EHR-based child protection alert system. Child Maltreatment. 2020 Feb 25 (1):61-69. Epub 2019 May 28. PMID: 31137955.
Henry M, Feudtner C, Fortin K, Lindberg D, Anderst J, Berger RP, Wood J. Occult head injuries in infants evaluated for physical abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect. 2020 Mar 3;103:104431 [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 32143091.
Vaithianathan R, Putnam-Hornstein E, Chouldechova A, Prado D, Berger R. Hospital validation of a predictive risk model for screening child maltreatment referrals: evidence from the Allegheny Family Screening Tool. JAMA Pediatrics. In press.
Even KM, Subramanian S, Berger RP, Kochanek PM, Zuccoli G, Gaines BA, Fink EL. The origin and impact of anemia in children with abusive head trauma. J Peds. In press.
Tiyyagura G, Bloemen E, Berger R, Rosen T, Harris T, Lindberg D. Seeing the forest in family violence research – moving to a family-centered approach. Academic Pediatrics. In press.
Wolford JE, Berger RP, Eichman AE, Lindberg DM, ExSTRA Investigators. Injuries suggestive of physical abuse in young children with subconjunctival hemorrhages. Pediatr Emerg Care. In press.
McNamara C, Panigrahy A, Sheetz M, Berger R. The likelihood of an occult fracture in skeletal surveys obtained in children over 2 years old with concerns of physical abuse. Pediatr Emerg Care. In press.
Noorbakhsh K, Berger R, Smith K. Identification of abusive head trauma in high-risk infants: a cost-effectiveness analysis. JPediatr. In press.
Fink EL, Wisnowski J, Clark RSB, Berger RP, Fabio A, Furtado A, Narayan S, Angus DC, Watson RS, Wang C, Callaway CW, Bell MJ, Kochanek PM, Bluml S, Panigrahy A. Brain MR imaging and spectroscopy for outcome prognostication after pediatric cardiac arrest. Resuscitation. In submission.
Fink EL, Clark RSB, Panigrahy A, Berger RP, Wisnowski J, Bluml S, Maloney D, Rubin P, Haller T, Bayir H, Beers S, Kochanek PM, Fabio A. Personalizing outcomes after child cardiac arrest (POCCA): design and recruitment of a multicenter, observational study. Contemporary Clinical Trials. In submission.
Karakachian A, Colbert A, Hupp D, Berger RP. Caring for victims of child maltreatment: pediatric nurses’ moral distress and burnout. Journal of Pediatric Nursing. In submission.
Academic and Research Interests
- Child physical abuse
- Abusive head trauma
- Clinical decision support
Research Grants
NIH R01NS096714, Validation of Serum Biomarkers to Classify Outcome after Pediatric Cardiac Arrest (Co-I, PI: Fink), 2016-2021, $2,647.
The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center (PI), 2018-2020, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, $19,390.
Development and Dissemination of an Electronic Health Record based Child Abuse Clinical Decision Support System Toolkit (Co-PI), 2018-2020, Beckwith Institute, $186,992.
DI-2017C1-6215, Disseminating Child Abuse Clinical Decision Support to Improve Detection, Evaluation and Reporting (PI), 2018-2020, Patient Centered Outcome Research Institute (PCORI), $657,995.
Evaluating Interventions for Safe Sleep Practices (PI), 2018-2020, Hillman Foundation, $199,781.
Collaborating to Provide Medical Expertise to Victims of Suspected Child Abuse in Erie County (PI), 2018-2020, Hamot Foundation, $97,452.
The UPMC Child Abuse Initiative (Medical Director), 2020, UPMC for You, $127,278.
Qualitative Infant Unsafe Sleep Study (Co-PI), 2020, Cribs for Kids, $59,135.
200244, Casey Family Programs Support for the Translating Policy into Practice: Protecting Young Children from Fatal and Near-fatal Maltreatment Project (PI), 2020, Casey Family Programs, $35,375.
NIH 1R24HD098415-01A1, CAPNET – Building Research Capacity in Child Abuse Pediatrics (Site PI), 2020-2025, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, $311,855.
