Rachel Scott

Rachel K. Scott, MD, MPH, is the scientific director of women’s health research for MedStar Health Research Institute and the associate chair for research for the Women’s and Infants’ Services Department of MedStar Washington Hospital Center (MHWC), where she is a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist. Dr. Scott’s passion for women’s health and commitment to underserved women drives both her clinical career and her commitment to clinical and translational research. She currently divides her time between clinical care and research, primarily focused on treatment and prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in women and individuals assigned female at birth. Dr. Scott is the director of the Women’s Center for Positive Living, MWHC’s HIV Obstetrics and Gynecology practice within the Department of Women's and Infant Services. In addition to her clinical responsibilities, she is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology Georgetown University and is active in resident and medical student education and mentorship. 

Dr. Scott serves a member of the national Department of Health and Human Services Panel on Treatment of Pregnant Women with HIV Infection and Prevention of Perinatal Transmission guidelines, which sets the preconception, antepartum, and postpartum clinical recommendations for women with HIV and for HIV prevention/pre-exposure prophylaxis in women with potential exposure to HIV.

Dr. Scott’s past research includes a highly competitive NIMH K23 award to study the behavioral health determinants of adherence during pregnancy and postpartum in women with HIV, a NICHD R21 award to study placental microvasculature in pregnancies complicated by HIV, and a NICHD R21 award which utilizes population pharmacokinetic modeling to assess the adequacy of dosing of oral HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis in pregnancy. She leads an NIMH R34 award to develop and pilot a clinic-level HIV prevention intervention for women with exposure to HIV and an NICHD IMPAACT study to evaluate the pharmacokinetics and safety of long-acting injectable cabotegravir and rilpivirine in pregnancy.

Dr. Scott is the lead course director for the MedStar Research Scholars Program. She was previously awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award by the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics and the George E. Stevens Teaching Award by both MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and MWHC for her role as a teacher and research mentor. As a resident, she was a two-time recipient of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Teaching Award.

Dr. Scott is board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is a fellow of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and she is a member of the District of Columbia Developmental Center for AIDS Research.

Her medical degree is from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY. She then continued her medical training with an internship and residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Her master's degree in Public Health is from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, where she studied International Health and Development. Dr. Scott is fluent in Spanish and English.

Research Interests

Dr. Scott’s research interests include

• Obstetric and gynecologic care of women and individuals assign female at birth living with HIV
• Treatment and prevention of sexually transmitted infections
• Contraceptive and condom use among women and individuals assigned female at birth
• Health disparities and social and structural determinants of health among women
• HIV prevention/pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)
• HIV treatment/antiretroviral therapy (ART) in pregnancy (including pharmacokinetics (PK))
• HIV in pregnancy/postpartum
• HIV associated morbidity in pregnancy, such as growth restriction and preterm birth
• ART adherence

View Dr. Scott's publications on PubMed

Selected Research

NIMH R34 award to develop and pilot a clinic-level HIV prevention intervention for women with exposure to HIV

NICHD IMPAACT Protocol 2050 which evaluate the pharmacokinetics and safety of long-acting injectable cabotegravir and rilpivirine in pregnancy