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Rachel
Alinsky

Assistant Professor
Rachel Alinsky

Departmental Affiliations

School of Medicine
Joint

Contact Info

Research Interests

preventable adolescent morbidity and mortality; adolescent and youth opioids use disorders; policy research and strategies to engage youth in care system
Experiences & Accomplishments
Education
MPH
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2019
MD
Georgetown University School of Medicine
2013
BA
Case Western Reserve University
2009
Overview
Dr. Alinsky focuses on health services and health systems research on access to addiction treatment for adolescents and young adults.
Her fellowship projects included designing, implementing, and evaluating a Quality Improvement project for Pediatric primary care SBIRT (screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment), which led to additional SBIRT in-person and webinar trainings for pediatricians throughout Maryland through the Maryland chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

She has investigated healthcare utilization patterns after opioid overdose in adolescents using a large Medicaid dataset, for which she was awarded Best Research Abstract at the 2018 Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Use and Addiction (AMERSA) Conference, and was a finalist for the New Investigator Award at the 2019 Society for Adolescent Health & Medicine (SAHM) Conference. This work, published in JAMA Pediatrics in January 2020, was highlighted in Francis Collins’ NIH Director’s Blog, the Chicago Tribune, US News & World Reports, Reuters, and multiple other national media outlets.

Her work describing the availability of adolescent-serving addiction treatment centers throughout the United States and characteristics associated with offering medications for opioid use disorder was recently published in the Journal of Adolescent Health; she was again named a finalist for the New Investigator Award at the 2020 SAHM Conference for this work, and won the 2020 Schwentker Award for Excellence in Research by Fellows and Residents at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Honors & Awards
4/2020: Schwentker Award, the highest award given to a post-doctoral resident or fellow in the Department of Pediatrics for production of high quality scholarly work, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
3/2020: Finalist, 2020 Charles E. Irwin, Jr. New Investigator Award, Society for Adolescent Health & Medicine
5/2019: Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4/2019: Scholarship recipient, Fellow Immersion Training (FIT) in Addiction Medicine, Improving Research and Clinical Skills for Subspecialty Fellows, Boston University School of Medicine, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R25DA013582)
3/2019: Finalist, 2019 Charles E. Irwin, Jr. New Investigator Award, Society for Adolescent Health & Medicine
11/2018: Awardee, Best Research Abstract, Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction
11/2018: Awardee, Travel Scholarship, Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction
7/2018: Kuhlmeier Scholarship, scholarship for academic and professional achievement, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
3/2018: Research and Mentoring Forum Selected Participant, Society for Adolescent Health & Medicine
5/2009: Departmental Award for Political Science, for academic achievement, leadership, and service, Case Western Reserve University
2009-2013: Georgetown University Scholarship Recipient, scholarship for academic achievement, Georgetown University School of Medicine
8/2005-5/2009: Case Presidential Scholarship, scholarship for initial and continued high academic achievement, Case Western Reserve University
8/2005-5/2009: Deans High Honor List, for GPA >3.75 every semester, Case Western Reserve University
5/2007-5/2008: Alice Seagraves Scholarship for Outstanding Students Studying Abroad, for academic achievement, Case Western Reserve University
Select Publications
Recent Peer Reviewed Publications
  • Hadland SE, Jent VA, Alinsky RH, Marshall BDL, Mauro PM, Cerdá M. Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Facilities With Programs for Special Populations. Am J Prev Med. 2020 Sep;59(3):e125-e133. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2020.03.022. Epub 2020 May 21. PMID: 32448551; PMCID: PMC7484197.
  • Alinsky RH, Hadland SE, Matson PA, Cerda M, Saloner B. Adolescent-Serving Addiction Treatment Facilities in the United States and the Availability of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder. J Adolesc Health. 2020 Apr 23. pii: S1054-139X(20)30106-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.03.005. PubMed PMID: 32336560. [Young Investigator Award Finalist SAHM 2020]
  • Alinsky RH, Percy K, Adger H Jr, Fertsch D, Trent M. Substance Use Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment in Pediatric Practice: A Quality Improvement Project in the Maryland Adolescent and Young Adult Health Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network. Clinical Pediatrics. 2020 Jan 29:9922820902441. doi: 10.1177/0009922820902441. PMID: 31994409.
  • Alinsky RH, Zima BT, Rodean J, Matson PA, Larochelle MR, Adger H Jr, Bagley SM, Hadland SE. Receipt of Addiction Treatment after Opioid Overdose among Medicaid-Enrolled Adolescents and Young Adults. JAMA Pediatr. 2020 Jan 6: 6:e195183. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.5183. PMID: 31905233. [Best Research Abstract Amersa 2018, Young Investigator Award Finalist SAHM 2019, Cited by NIH Director in blog]
  • Lundin JI, Checkoway H, Criswell SR, Hobson AJ, Harris RC, Swisher LM, Evanoff BA, Racette BA. Screening for early detection of parkinsonism using a self-administered questionnaire: a cross-sectional epidemiologic study. Neurotoxicology. 2014 Dec;45:232-7. PMID 24035927.