Continuing Education

6.25 CEs are available through R. Cassidy Seminars. Click here to be redirected to the R Cassidy Seminars site where you can get more information and register for your CEs and Certificate of Completion.

Please note you must register for CEs separately. Registering for the conference will not register you for CEs and Certificates of Completion.

Dr. Robert Anda

Dr. Robert (Rob) Anda graduated from Rush Medical College in 1979 and received his board certification in internal medicine in 1982. In 1984 he completed a fellowship in preventive medicine at the University of Wisconsin, received a Masters Degree in epidemiology, and was accepted into the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. He conducted research in disease surveillance, behavioral health, mental health and disease, cardiovascular disease, psychosocial origins of health-risk behaviors, and childhood determinants of health.

In the early 1990’s, Rob began a collaboration with Dr. Vincent Felitti at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego to investigate child abuse as an underlying cause of medical, social, and public health problems. This effort lead to a large-scale study funded by the CDC to track the effects of childhood trauma on health throughout the lifespan. They called it the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study). Rob played a principal role in the design of the study, and serves as its co-principal investigator and co-founder.

Data collected from more than 17,000 patients clearly showed that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), were common; that they had a profound negative effect on health and well-being; and were a prime determinant of the past, current and future health behaviors, social problems, disease incidence, and early death in the study population. These findings have resulted in more than 70 publications in major medical and public health journals. The ideas from this work are now influencing the design of similar research around the world.

Findings from the ACE Study have been presented at Congressional Briefings and numerous conferences around the world.  The ACE Study is being replicated in numerous countries by the World Health Organization (WHO), and is in use to assess the childhood origins of health and social problems in more than 18 U.S. states.

Rob continues to work as a CDC senior scientific consultant in Atlanta, but his time is increasingly devoted to traveling the nation to consult and speak with leaders in public health, medicine, corrections, judicial and social service systems and with local, state, national, and international organizations about the ACE Study. He is showing how its findings are useful to inform programs, policy, and legislation to prevent disease and disability.

Rob is the author of more than 200 publications, including numerous government publications, and book chapters, and has received numerous awards and recognition for scientific achievements. He has appeared in national newspapers and television networks and is frequently invited to speak about the ACE Study and his experiences around the country working on applications of ACE Study concepts.

Just as in his work, Rob is passionate about gardening and scuba diving, when his schedule permits.  He also enjoys fishing and golf.  He makes his home in Fayetteville, GA.

Ms. Laura Porter

Laura Porter is Co-Founder of ACE Interface, LLC.   With Dr. Robert Anda, Ms. Porter develops and disseminates educational products and empowerment strategies that help leaders throughout the nation to dramatically improve population health.  She is honored to be a thought partner, educator, consultant and coach in two dozen states.  Ms. Porter provides support and services to a wide range of groups… from parents leading informal initiatives to officials leading state and federal agencies. 

Laura Porter brings to ACE Interface more than a decade of experience leading successful state-wide implementation of ACE Study concepts.  Her expertise includes overseeing analysis and dissemination of surveillance and archival data to support decision making, and designing and facilitating processes demonstrated to improve population health, safety and productivity.  Laura is committed to developing market forces in the ACE social movement sufficient to sustain the courageous leaders who are using ACE and resilience science and Building Self-Healing Communities.

Ms. Porter concurrently serves as the Senior Director of The Learning Institute at the Foundation for Healthy Generations, a Seattle-based non-profit.  There she oversees analysis of Washington State ACE data and works with local and state leaders to embed NEAR science findings into policy, practice and community norms.  (NEAR: Neuroscience, Epigenetics, ACE and Resilience)

As an Associate with the Southwest and Central offices of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT), Ms. Porter helps CAPT and its grantees to integrate powerful findings from the landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences Study into prevention planning, practice, and evaluation.  The CAPT is a national substance abuse prevention training and technical assistance (T/TA) system dedicated to strengthening prevention systems and the nation’s behavioral health workforce.

Video clip related to her work with CAPT.

From 1998 to 2013, Laura Porter directed the Washington State Family Policy Council and Office of ACE Partnerships.  In these roles, she worked with Senators and Representatives from the four caucuses of the Washington Legislature, five members of the Governor’s Cabinet, managers from seven state agencies, directors and members of 53 community-based collaborative organizations and leaders from ten Tribes.  Laura and her colleagues developed a unique model for improving the capacity of communities to deliver stunning results for a small investment.  Communities using the model have documented rEducations in the rates of seven major social problems and Adverse Childhood Experience scores among young adults.  Cost savings from caseload rEducations attributable to the Family Policy Council in child welfare, juvenile justice and public medical costs associated with births to teen mothers were estimated by an independent economist to exceed $55m/biennium.

Prior to her work with the State of Washington, Laura Porter served as an elected County Commissioner.  Commissioner Porter designed a service-oriented approach to water quality assurance that secured family wage jobs in the shellfish industry.  She also led an inter-jurisdictional criminal justice initiative that implemented prevention, facilities and system improvements.   Working cooperatively with over a dozen unions and guilds, Commissioner Porter ended a multi-year pattern of grievances and strikes, thus assuring uninterrupted county services to businesses and residents.  In 1991, Commissioner Porter authored a public transportation plan which won voter approval and created the Mason County Transportation Authority.  During her tenure as a founding member of the Board of Directors, Mason Transit became the first transit system in the state with all routes and services fully ADA accessible.  Commissioner Porter served on the Washington Counties Risk Pool Board of Directors (liability), the Washington Counties Insurance Fund Board of Directors (health), and the Washington State Association of Counties Legislative Steering Committee.

Laura is mother to three children and grandmother to three precious grandchildren.