Greta Massetti, PhD, MPH
Branch Chief, Field Epidemiology and Prevention Branch, Division of Violence Prevention
Areas of Expertise
- Global violence prevention
- Violence epidemiology
- Sexual violence
- Violence against children and youth
- Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
- COVID-19 Emergency Response
Greta Massetti, PhD, is the branch chief of the Field Epidemiology and Prevention Branch and a senior epidemiologist in the Division of Violence Prevention of CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. In this role, Dr. Massetti leads the division’s efforts to address the global burden of violence against children and youth. She serves as the lead for the global Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS) to determine the magnitude, epidemiology, and health impacts of violence against children in multiple countries. Dr. Massetti collaborates with CDC global partners, including WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank, USAID, PEPFAR, and Together for Girls, to increase the availability of scientific data on the topics of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), violence against children, gender-based violence, and related health consequences.
During the CDC’s COVID-19 Emergency Response, Dr. Massetti served as a principal deputy incident manager and as co-lead of the Community Interventions and Critical Populations (CICP) Task Force, where she led the development of guidance on prevention and mitigation measures designed to protect public health and reduce COVID-19 spread in communities. She is one of CDC’s leading experts on COVID-19 prevention in pediatric populations, K-12 schools, and higher education. She has also been deployed in several other public health emergency responses, including the 2014 Ebola epidemic and hurricanes Irene (2011) and Isaac (2012), and others.
Dr. Massetti is a leader in public health prevention science and the intersection of science, practice, and policy. She has conducted extensive research on the prevention and health consequences of youth, sexual, and intimate partner violence, and violence against children, leading efforts to advance violence prevention through evidence-based initiatives that promote the safety and health of communities. Dr. Massetti is one of the top 30 authors of intervention research productivity in school psychology and has published more than 120 scientific publications and reports.
Her contributions to the field of public health have been recognized with numerous awards, including the CDC Honor Award for Excellence in Epidemiology, International, for extraordinary leadership in accelerating the application of epidemiological data to prevent childhood violence and the award for Innovation and Leadership in the Development of Behavioral and Social Scientists.
Dr. Massetti began her career at CDC in 2007 as a behavioral scientist in the Division of Violence Prevention. Previously, she served as team lead and chief of the Research and Evaluation Branch in the Division of Violence Prevention and associate director for Science in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control.
Dr. Massetti received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and a Bachelor of Music degree at Northwestern University. She earned Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in clinical psychology from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook. She completed a post-doctoral psychology residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals.