Rachel Whitfield, Family Nurse Practitioner

Rachel Whitfield is a Family Nurse Practitioner working in Adolescent Medicine at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. She is the Program and Medical Director for their Title X program. Rachel has practiced in a variety of settings over the years including emergency medicine, family medicine, homeless outreach, and adolescent residential mental health facility. She often encounters vulnerable youth in her practice and is passionate about teaching clinical staff how to recognize vulnerabilities that make youth particularly susceptible to trafficking and exploitation and teaching youth how to advocate for themselves, learn body autonomy and boundaries for healthy relationships. She co-founded and co-leads the Human Trafficking Work Group at Children’s Mercy Hospital Kansas City which aims to increase recognition of victims in the health care setting and provide support for vulnerable youth in our area. She received the Advanced Practice Advocacy Award in 2023 which is awarded to APRN’s who has exhibited significant and impactful advocacy on behalf of the hospital and the children it serves within the local community, region, national or international levels, with the goal of improving health outcomes and/or reducing health-related disparities for her work with vulnerable youth that her clinic serves. She has co-authored the chapter on Transitioning to Adulthood in the Primary Care of Children with Chronic Conditions textbook and serves as the Agency Representative Committee Chair on the Missouri Family Health Council’s board of directors. In addition to her clinical role she also collaborates with colleagues on research that affects reproductive care in the adolescent population.