Rachel Vreeman MD

A pediatrician and global health services researcher, Dr. Vreeman is the Chair of the Department of Global Health and Health System Design at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is also a Professor of Pediatrics and the Director of the Arnhold Institute for Global Health. Dr. Vreeman chairs the global pediatric working group of the NIH-funded IeDEA consortium, currently the largest global cohort of patients living with HIV. Her research portfolio focuses on the long-term care of children and adolescents living with HIV globally. Dr. Vreeman’s research focuses on sustain long-term HIV care for children and adolescents living with HIV in resource-limited settings, with much of her work based in East Africa. Her research work examines adherence to therapy for HIV, viral resistance, disclosing HIV status to children, mental health challenges and HIV-related stigma.

Dr. Vreeman also investigates how common medical beliefs become accepted, even in the face of evidence to disprove them. She has co-authored three popular books on medical myths (St. Martin's Press):

Don't Swallow Your Gum! Myths, Half-Truths, and Outright Lies About Your Body and Health

Don't Cross Your Eyes... They'll Get Stuck That Way! And 75 Other Health Myths Debunked

Don't Put THAT in THERE! And 69 Other Sex Myths Debunked

Her myth-busting work has been featured on CNN, The Dr. Oz Show, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, and in The New York Times, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, Scientific American, Newsweek, and many other national publications and media outlets.

Dr. Vreeman graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University with a BA in English. She received her MD from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, and completed her internship, residency, and a chief residency in pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She also completed a fellowship in Children's Health Services Research and a masters degree in clinical research at the Indiana University School of Medicine.