Rachel Gartner

Dr. Rachel E. Gartner is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh. Broadly, she investigates the role of violence and discrimination across individual, interpersonal, and systemic factors with the goal of preventing victimization and improving health outcomes for minoritized populations. Specifically, her scholarship aims to address foundational gaps in how we conceptualize victimization for minoritized groups and how we move upstream to develop community driven approaches to prevention that address the complexity of intersecting marginalized identities. 

Dr. Gartner’s research is informed by her practice experience as a sexual violence prevention educator, mental health clinician, and advocate in school, university, and hospital settings. She received both her BA in Psychology and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and her MSW concentrating in Mental Health from Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Gartner completed her PhD in Social Welfare with a Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality at the University of California, Berkeley.

Research Interests

• Prevention-focused scholarship addresses gaps in conceptualization and measurement of sexual violence
• Microaggressions (identity-based stressors)
• Other forms of victimization for marginalized groups (women, gender minority individuals, POC and those with intersecting, marginalized identities)