Rachel Sayko Adams, PhD, MPH

Rachel Sayko Adams, PhD, MPH is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Health Law, Policy & Management at BUSPH. She is a proud alum of BUSPH where she completed her Master in Public Health in Health Policy & Management followed by a PhD in Social Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Dr. Adams is a health services researcher with expertise studying substance use, disparities in treatment, and morbidity and mortality outcomes in high-risk populations (e.g., military/Veterans, persons with traumatic brain injury or other disabilities). She is coming to BUSPH from the Institute for Behavioral Health at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy & Management, where she led a portfolio of addiction health services research for over a decade. She has led studies from the National Institutes of Health (i.e, NIMH, NIAAA, NIDA, and NCCIH), the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), and Uniformed Services University at the Department of Defense. Dr. Adams has an appointment as a health services researcher with the Veterans Health Administration Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center in Aurora, Colorado and as an Investigator with the Partnered Evidence-based Policy Resource Center at the VA Boston Healthcare System.

Dr. Adams is Multiple Principal Investigator (MPI) on a R01 from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Office of the Director at NIH which is integrating data from the Department of Defense and Veterans Health Administration to enhance suicide prevention efforts for military members following deployment (Brenner/Adams). She is MPI of the Substance Use and Psychological Injury Combat Study - Pain Management (SUPIC), a longitudinal study examining the association of non-pharmacological treatments for pain management, as a complement or substitute to opioids, in relation to long-term health outcomes, funded by the Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at NIH (Larson/Adams). She was the Co-PI of the INROADS study, Intersecting Research on Opioid Misuse, Addiction, and Disability Services, which examined the intersection between addiction, disability, and service provision in an effort to address the rise of opioid use disorders among people with disabilities, funded by NIDILRR. In collaboration with researchers from the Uniformed Services University, Dr. Adams is the Site-PI on a study examining healthcare utilization and readiness outcomes among soldiers with post-deployment at-risk drinking, by multimorbidity class. She has completed studies on the health effects of deployment for military spouses and children, and the impact of early behavioral health treatment in reducing long term substance use and psychological health problems postdeployment.