Kate Guastaferro, Ph.D. is an Assistant Research Professor in the Center for Healthy Children, and an affiliate of the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network as well as the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, at The Pennsylvania State University. Kate’s program of research sits at the intersection of prevention science and innovative methods.

Kate is committed to the prevention of child maltreatment. Her focus during her time at Penn State has focused predominantly on the prevention of child sexual abuse. Kate led the development of a parent-focused child sexual abuse prevention module designed to be added to existing evidence-based programs. She also collaborates with Dr. Jennie Noll on the implementation and evaluation of a state-wide child sexual abuse prevention strategy.

She is also interested in innovative methods for intervention development, optimization, and evaluation. She is an expert in the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST), an engineering inspired framework for building interventions that are effective, efficient, economical, and scalable. Kate has experience applying MOST to a variety of public health problems, including STI prevention among first year college students.

Kate received her PhD in Public Health from Georgia State University in 2016, receiving the Public Health Achievement Award recognizing her scholarship and academic success. She completed her undergraduate work at Boston University in 2008 and received her MPH from Georgia State in 2011. Kate’s vision is to integrate her substantive and methodological interests to develop, optimize, evaluate, and disseminate child maltreatment prevention programs that are effective, efficient, economical, and scalable.

Kate’s full CV can be downloaded here.