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Rachael C. Acker, MD

Rachael Acker
Medical School: Harvard Medical School Undergraduate: University of California, Berkeley

About Dr. Acker

Dr. Acker was raised in northern California and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley summa cum laude as a member of the Division I, NCAA Championship winning women’s swim team. She obtained her medical degree from Harvard Medical School, graduating magna cum laude. Dr. Acker plans to pursue a career as an academic surgeon-scientist focused on educational research.

Education

2027 (anticipated)
Master of Science in Health Policy
University of Pennsylvania

2025
Certificate in Medical Education
Measey Medical Education Fellowship
University of Pennsylvania

2021
MD - Harvard Medical School

2016
BA - University of California Berkeley in French

Societies

  • American Women’s Medical Association (AMWA), Resident, Member
  • Association for Program Director’s in Surgery (APDS), Resident, Member
  • Association for Surgical Education (ASE), Resident, Member
  • American College of Surgeons (ACS), Resident, Member
  • Association for Academic Surgery (AAS), Resident, Member

Awards

2019
Walter Byers Post-graduate Scholarship Recipient, NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association)

2016 - 2107
Fulbright Research Grant Recipient: Rennes, France

2016
University Medal Finalist, University of California, Berkeley

2016
Pac12 Conference Woman of the Year

Research

Dr. Acker’s research interests lie at the intersection of surgical education and health services research. She is specifically interested in using robust scientific methods to design competency-based graduate medical education. She is also interested in the role of belonging in surgical resident performance and the design of interventions to optimize the clinical learning environment for trainees. She is mentored by Dr. Rachel Kelz and plans to pursue a career as an academic surgeon-scientist focused on educational research.

Publications

  1. Acker RC, Ginzberg SP, Sharpe J, Keele L, Hwang J, Bakillah E, Goldberg D, Kaufman E, Kelz RR. Operative vs Nonoperative Treatment of Acute Cholecystitis in Older Adults With Multimorbidity. JAMA Surg. 2025 Apr 16:e250729. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2025.0729. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40238117; PMCID: PMC12004247.
  2. Acker RC, Roberson JL, Landau S, Aarons CB, Kelz RR, Lee MK 4th. Post Night Shift Education for Interns: A Pilot Program. J Surg Educ. 2024 Nov;81(11):1764-1771. doi: 10.1016/j.jsurg.2024.08.026. Epub 2024 Sep 20. PMID: 39305606.
  3. Acker R.C., Sharpe J., Shea J.A., Ginzberg S.P., Bakillah E., Rosen C.B., Finn C.B., Roberts S.E., Ajmera S., Kelz R. (2024). Belonging in Surgery: A validated instrument and single institutional pilot. Annals of Surgery, Epub ahead of print. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000006234.
  4. Acker, R.C. and Kelz, R.R., (2023). Cutting Through the Learning Curve: The New Surgeon Battle Between Inexperience and Competence. Annals of Surgery, pp.10-1097
  5. Acker R., Vargas GM, Hoffman RL, Aarons CB. The Road to Mastery: An Analysis of Goal Orientation in the Transition from Medical School to Surgical Residency (2023). Journal of Surgical Education, 80(11):1574-1581. doi: 10.1016/j.jsurg.2023.08.017.
  6. Acker, R., Swendiman, R. A., Luks, V. L., Hanna, A. N., Lee, M. K., Williams, N. N., Kelz, R. R., Lynn, J., & Aarons, C. B. (2022). Pulling Back from the Brink: A Multi-Pronged Approach to Address General Surgery Resident Clinical Work Hour Adherence. Journal of surgical education, 79(6), e17–e24.
  7. Acker, R., Healy, M. G., Vanderkruik, R., Petrusa, E., McKinley, S. K., & Phitayakorn, R. (2022). Eyes of the Beholders: First-year medical students' perceptions of surgeons and the field of surgery. American journal of surgery, 223(6), 1026– 1032. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2021.10.019
  8. Acker, R., Healy, M. G., Vanderkruik, R., Petrusa, E., McKinley, S., & Phitayakorn, R. (2022). Finding my people: Effects of student identity and vulnerability to Stereotype Threat on sense of belonging in surgery. American journal of surgery, 224(1 Pt B), 384–390.
  9. Rosenthal, J.W., Bakillah, E., Acker, R.C., Sharpe, J.E., Sharoky, C., Kelz, R.R. Pilot Study of Provider Adherence to Language Services for Surgical Patients with Limited English Proficiency. American Journal of Surgery. 2025 Jun 10;247:116473. doi:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2025.116473. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40554129
  10. Wirtalla C, Finn CB, Acker R, Landau S, Syvyk S, Holmboe ES, Yamazaki K, Kelz RR. The Predictive Performance of General Surgery Milestones on Post-Graduation Outcomes. Ann Surg. 2024 Jul 25. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000006457. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39051106.
  11. McKinley, S. K., Witt, E. E., Acker, R. C., Cassidy, D. J., Hamdi, I., Mansur, A., Ghosh, A., Evenson, A., Askari, R., Petrusa, E., Saillant, N., & Phitayakorn, R. (2022). A multisite study of medical student perspectives on the core surgical clerkship. Surgery, 171(5), 1215–1223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surg.2021.09.005
  12. Kim, Y., Ortega, M. V., Acker, R., Valentine, K. D., Ayati, E., & Von Bargen, E. (2022). Synchronous Telemedicine Model in Urogynecology: Are Patients Willing to Continue Telemedicine in the Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Era?. Urogynecology, 28(10), 679–686. https://doi.org/10.1097/SPV.0000000000001223
  13. Gibeaux, R., Acker, R., Kitaoka, M., Georgiou, G., van Kruijsbergen, I., Ford, B., Marcotte, E. M., Nomura, D. K., Kwon, T., Veenstra, G. J. C., & Heald, R. (2018). Paternal chromosome loss and metabolic crisis contribute to hybrid inviability in Xenopus. Nature, 553(7688), 337–341. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25188
  14. Gibeaux, R., Miller, K., Acker, R., Kwon, T., & Heald, R. (2018). Xenopus Hybrids Provide Insight Into Cell and Organism Size Control. Frontiers in physiology, 9, 1758. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.01758
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