Rachel Berger, MD, MPH is Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also chief of the division of Child Advocacy at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and director of child abuse research at the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research at the University of Pittsburgh. She attended medical school at Columbia University, completed her pediatric internship and residency and a fellowship in general academic pediatrics at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and a Master’s in Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. Over the past 20 years, her research has focused on improving identification and evaluation of suspected physical abuse using serum biomarkers, clinical decision rules and the use of electronic health records. She has received research funding from federal agencies including NIH, DOD, CDC, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) as well as foundations including the Hillman Foundation and the Beckwith Institute. She has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and is a member of the Society for Pediatric Research (SPR) and American Pediatric Society (APS). She recently became the first child abuse pediatrician to be elected to ASCI, the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

She has also been involved in child abuse-related policy and served on the Pennsylvania Task Force for Child Protection, as the research lead for the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities (CECANF) during the Obama administration and most recently, as a senior policy fellow for Casey Family Programs.