Assistant Professor

Research and Clinical Interests
- Geriatric emergency medicine
- Cognitive impairment
- Medication safety and outcomes research

Biography

Rachel Skains, MD, MSPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine (EM) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) with a joint faculty position at the Birmingham VA Medical Center (BVAMC). Dr. Skains is an early-stage investigator focused on improving medication safety and cognitive impairment management in the acute care of older adults through patient-centered outcomes research. Dr. Skains’ interest in cognition and aging stems from her undergraduate training in Neuroscience, working as a clinical research coordinator at Carolinas Neuromuscular/MDA-ALS Center, and serving as a NC Albert Schweitzer Fellow. After graduating from Wake Forest School of Medicine (2016), she completed her EM residency at UAB (2019) followed by a Clinical Research Fellowship focused on Geriatric EM (GEM) while pursuing a Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) in Clinical and Translational Science from the UAB School of Public Health (2021). Dr. Skains was awarded the AHRQ NRSA T32 Postdoctoral Scholar Fellowship in the UAB Health Services Research Training Program (2020-2022), in addition to funding through the UAB Integrative Center for Aging Research (ICAR) and Geriatric Emergency care Applied Research (GEAR) 1.0 pilot grant programs. She has recently been awarded two NIA awards: Grants for Early Medical/Surgical Specialists' Transition to Aging Research (GEMSSTAR) R03 (2023-2025) to evaluate the risk factors and time course of incident delirium among older adults in the ED and Exploratory/ Developmental Grant R21 (2023-2025) for comprehensive assessment of delirium risk due to medications, in addition to the GEMSSTAR for EM Supplemental Funding Program through SAEMF/EMF. Furthermore, Dr. Skains is an ED physician champion for the UAB – Highlands and BVAMC Geriatric ED Committees, which received Level 1 (2021) and Level 3 (2023) accreditations respectively, completed the UAB Geriatric Scholar Interprofessional Program (2019-2021), served as Fellow board member for the GEM Section of ACEP (2021-2023), and currently Chair of the AGEM Grants & Awards Subcommittee (2023-Present). Dr. Skains is also leader of the Medication Safety Committee to update the national Geriatric ED Guidelines, leader of the ACEP quality measure group to develop a geriatric high-risk ED prescription list, Level 3 Geriatric ED accreditation reviewer, and committee member for UAB’s Department of Inter-professional practice and training (DIPT), what matters advisory group, and AGEM grant & awards subcommittee. Finally, she was recently the recipient of the 2023 Academy of Geriatric Emergency Medicine Early Career Achievement Award and the UAB Department of EM Outstanding Researcher of the Year 2023.

Certifications

American Board of Emergency Medicine 

Education

Medical School
Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Residency
University of Alabama at Birmingham - Emergency Medicine

Fellowship
University of Alabama at Birmingham - Research in Clinical and Translational Science

Graduate
University of Alabama at Birmingham - Master of Science in Public Health