Katie Ports
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.