Kathleen C. Basile, PhD

Associate Director for Science, Division of Violence Prevention

Areas of Expertise

• Sexual violence
• Intimate partner violence

Kathleen C. Basile, PhD, serves as associate director for science in the Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) at CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. She is responsible for providing leadership, planning, and guidance to division management and staff on scientific policy, training, and research priorities on violence prevention topics. DVP is the primary CDC/ATSDR organization tasked with surveillance, etiology, evaluation, and program dissemination and implementation across many violence topics, including intimate partner violence, sexual violence, child abuse and neglect, and youth violence. Dr. Basile is a DVP subject matter expert for sexual violence definitions, research, evidence-based prevention strategies, and surveillance and also has expertise in intimate partner violence definitions, research, prevention, and surveillance.

Dr. Basile began her career at CDC in 2000 in DVP as a behavioral scientist. In 2006, she became the team lead of the Etiology Team and served until 2012, when she became the team lead for the Sexual Violence and Child Maltreatment Team in the Research and Evaluation Branch of DVP. In 2016, she moved to DVP’s Office of the Associate Director for Science, first as senior scientist, then as deputy associate director for Science in 2021. She became associate director for science in 2023. Before coming to CDC, she was a research associate in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University.

Dr. Basile received her Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Alfred University in Alfred, NY, and her Master of Arts and doctorate degrees in sociology from Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA. She has authored more than 100 journal articles, chapters, reports, and other publications. She has received several awards and nominations for her work in public health.