Dr. Vincent Felitti

Biographical Sketch and Resources

Dr. Vincent Felitti, Co-Principal Investigator, Adverse Childhood Experience Study

Dr. Vincent Felitti is a noted physician and researcher on the negative impacts of adverse childhood experiences on adults. He is one of the principal investigators of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, a long-term, in-depth analysis of over 17,000 adults that matches their current health status against eight categories of adverse childhood experiences. Findings to date reveal a powerful relationship between our emotional experiences as children and our physical and mental health as adults, as well as a strong link with the major causes of adult mortality in the United States. In other words, the ACE Study documents the conversion of traumatic emotional experiences in childhood into organic disease later in life. It also documents that time does not heal all wounds. One does not "just get over" some things, not even fifty years later. In his keynote address, Dr. Felitti will discuss the ACE Study and its relevance to the everyday practice of medicine and mental health, and the importance of prevention.

Dr. Felitti is a graduate of Johns Hopkins Medical School (1962), and a Physician in the Department of Preventive Medicine, Southern California Permanente Medical Group. He founded the Department of Preventive Medicine for Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, California in 1975 and served as Chief of Preventive Medicine until March 2001. Under Dr. Felitti's leadership, the Health Appraisal Division of the Department of Preventive Medicine provided Comprehensive Medical Evaluation to 1.1 million people; and during his career, the health risk abatement programs expanded from three (weight loss, smoking cessation and stress management) to a wide range of cutting-edge risk abatement programs offered to over 1,000 patients per month at one facility. Dr. Felitti is also Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of California, San Diego, and a Fellow of The American College of Physicians, licensed to practice medicine in Maryland, California, and Arizona. Dr. Felitti is also the President and CEO of California Institutes of Preventive Medicine.

Dr. Felitti's research is a chapter in “The Hidden Epidemic: The Impact of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease,” Lanius/Vermetten, Cambridge University Press, 2008; Chapter title: The Relationship of Adverse Childhood Experiences to Adult Health, Well-being, Social Function, and Healthcare, v 6-01-2007

Here is the ACE questionnaire: What's My ACE Score?

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