Katie Ports

Principal Researcher

Katie Ports is a principal researcher in the Human Services division at AIR with over 20 years of experience in social science research. Dr. Ports is a nationally known subject matter expert on the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the public health approach to violence prevention.

Dr. Ports conducts research to advance the evidence base of prevention strategies that address the conditions that place some children and families at risk for poverty, violence, and poor health outcomes. In particular, she focuses on identifying and evaluating policies that improve economic stability for families and build wealth across generations. Dr. Ports also provides technical assistance to partners and grantees to identify, implement, and evaluate policies, practices, and programs to prevent violence and inequity.

Previously, Dr. Ports was a senior violence prevention researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Defense. Dr. Ports served as the CDC’s lead ACEs scientist. She also served as the science lead on several CDC-funded research and evaluation projects that rigorously evaluated Medicaid expansion, tax policies, bystander intervention, and gender norms campaigns and training programs. Some of these studies were among the first to demonstrate the potential impact of economic policies on violence prevention. Dr. Ports has also developed several evidence-informed violence prevention trainings for various workforces, including mental health care providers, pediatricians, and DoD’s integrated prevention workforce.

Katie Ports headshot
Expertise
Health
Human Services
Child Welfare
Housing and Homelessness
Violence Prevention
Services
Research & Evaluation
Technical Assistance
Ph.D., Experimental Social/Health Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Contact Katie Ports

+1.202.403.5000
Related Work

The Moment is Now: Strengthening Communities and Families for the Future of Our Nation

23 Apr 2024
COVID-19 has highlighted the historical lack of investment in the conditions that children need to thrive and demonstrates how a crisis can exacerbate children’s vulnerability to disease and violence. Exposure to early adversity already affects millions of children across the country and puts them at risk for poor outcomes. The ...
Female solder talkes with therapist

Trauma-Informed Leadership Training

Military leaders who understand trauma and its effects on unit cohesion, command climate, and mission readiness, and who are equipped to implement trauma-informed practices, can make a measurable difference in the health and well-being of their unit and Service members' lives. In support of DoD’s mission, AIR provides expert consultation ...
We have fun together, mother and son

Moving from Theory to Action (T2A): Supporting the Conditions for Equity and Thriving Children

Health and human service systems are increasingly interested in adopting a public health approach to promote child wellbeing and prevent adverse childhood experiences. Unfortunately, adopting a public health approach to the myriad health and social issues of young children has proven difficult. Many child-serving systems do not know where to ...

Violence Prevention Technical Assistance Center

Violence is a widespread public health problem that occurs in many forms, including child abuse and neglect, youth violence, sexual violence, and intimate partner violence. Fortunately, decades of research and practice have proven that violence is preventable. AIR is the lead contractor for the Violence Prevention Technical Assistance Center (VPTAC), ...