Tufts University medical professor Dr. Robert Sege directs the Center for Community-Engaged Medicine and is nationally known for his research on effective health systems approaches that address social determinants of health. He is also the principal investigator for the HOPE framework (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences).The HOPE framework is based on research that shows how positive childhood experiences can mitigate the effects of adverse childhood experiences. Sege and colleagues...

The two biggest myths about ACEs science are: MYTH #1 — That it’s just about the 10 ACEs in the ACE Study — the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study . It’s about sooooo much more than that. MYTH #2 — And that it’s just about ACEs…adverse childhood experiences. These two myths are intertwined. The ACE Study issued the first of its 70+ publications in 1998, and for many people it was the lightning bolt, the grand “aha” moment, the unexpected doorway into a blazing new...

Childhood experiences affect our development, influence our behaviors and help shape our outlook on life as we get older. Dr. Vincent Felitti of Kaiser Permanente and Dr. Robert Anda of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention conducted an original study on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the 1990s. Studies showed a strong correlation between traumatic experiences and poor adult health as well as social outcomes later in life. More than 17,000 adult members were surveyed about...

The leaders of the ACEs movement in Iowa, Wisconsin and Arizona shared the histories of how it all got started, the challenges along the way, and what the future holds in their respective states.  Martha Davis of the Robert Wood Johnson...

The Central Iowa ACEs 360 Steering Committee has led efforts to research how  adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) impact the health and well-being of Iowans throughout a lifetime. In 2012, questions were added to the Behavioral Risk Factor...

#WARonSlavery

Karen Clemmer, the Northwest community facilitator with ACEs Connection, was already deeply interested in the CDC/Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study when she and a colleague from the Child Parent Institute were invited to lunch by ACEs Connection founder and publisher Jane Stevens in 2012. But that lunch meeting changed everything. Karen Clemmer “Jane helped us see a bigger world,” says Clemmer. “She came with a much wider lens. She didn’t look only at Sonoma County, she...

Former PACEs Connection employees Dana Brown (L) with Vincent Felitti, MD, co-author of the 1998 Adverse Childhood Experiences study, and Carey Sipp (R) in San Diego in January, 2024. The last few months have been quite challenging, but we pushed, persevered, and didn’t give up hope. The “we” is Carey Sipp and Dana Brown. We were long-time staff members of PACEs Connection determined to reinstate the website and the resources and information we provide to communities after the platform went...