About Rachel

As a trauma survivor, harmed patient, and community advocate I have developed a passion for being a voice for the voiceless.

My medication and medical device safety health advocacy began in 2006  when I suffered severe, permanent adverse reactions from a commonly prescribed antibiotic called Levaquin. In 2017, I experienced harm from the off-label use of propranolol for PTSD. Then in 2021, I experienced adverse events from a total knee replacement.

Since then, I have used my experience as a harmed patient to advocate for others and work in partnership with established consumer and patient-safety advocacy groups and agencies.

The experiences I have had and the people I have met led me to many  opportunities and partnerships both within patient safety and in other  causes I am passionate about.  Some of my current roles and recent projects include:

Positions and Collaboration

• Investigator at North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
• Collaborator at  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Collaborator at Mecklenburg County Community Support Services

Writing

• Contributor at Drugwatch
• Contributor at Medshadow Foundation
• Journal Author at Journal of Precision Medicine
• Contributor at American Society of Pharmacovigilance

Public Speaking

• Patient safety
• Domestic violence
• Sexual assault
• Pharmacovigilance/pharmacogenomics
• Patient education and engagement

Filmmaking

• IMDb profile
• Founder of Courage to Continue Productions
• Executive Producer  Every 73 Seconds docudrama
• Executive Producer | Unearthed: Mount St. Helens

Awareness video production

• Adverse Drug Events: Faces of Harm
• Profit$ Over Patient$