Rachel Brathwaite’s epidemiological research focuses: on developing tools to facilitate early prevention/intervention to improve the physical and mental health of vulnerable and marginalized populations; population health research on modifiable behavioral risk factors among vulnerable populations; harm reduction among marginalized populations and; research to identify and prevent poor mental and physical health among youth populations in low-and middle-income countries.

To date, her research involved significant scientific contributions to improving the health of vulnerable populations including developing models to predict future depression and poor mental health among adolescents in low-and middle-income countries. Rachel also has interests in leveraging existing big data and using advanced machine learning methods such as prediction modeling to develop screening tools for improved prediction of poor health outcomes.

Her work has been published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, the American Journal of Public Health, Psychiatry Research, AIDS and Behavior, and the Journal of the International AIDS Society among others.

Rachel is a Co-Principal Investigator on a R21 grant funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) which investigates the multi-level factors associated with substance use among adolescents living with HIV and tests the impact of an economic empowerment intervention to reduce substance use among youths living with HIV in low-resource communities.

Rachel is affiliated with the International Center for Child Health and Development at the Brown School and is an alumni of the NIMH-funded Researcher Resilience Training Program.