Sarah DeGue, PhD

Dr. Sarah DeGue is a nationally recognized expert and thought leader in violence prevention, with nearly 25 years of experience conducting research on the causes, consequences, and effective prevention strategies for multiple forms of violence. Dr. DeGue is a sought-after consultant in the US and internationally on effective strategies to prevent violence before it happens with particular expertise in sexual and dating violence. She has educated and consulted with numerous federal agencies and branches of the US military, colleges and universities, state and local governments, law enforcement, community-based organizations, and national non-profits as an expert on the public health approach to violence prevention. Her work combines rigorous scientific methods with practical strategies to assess and reduce the risk of violence.

As the director of CDC’s Dating Matters teen dating violence prevention initiative for over a decade, Dr. DeGue led the development and national dissemination of the first comprehensive teen dating violence prevention model for middle schoolers, their parents, and their communities. Dating Matters has been found in a rigorous multi-site evaluation to reduce dating violence, sexual violence, bullying, fighting, substance use, and other negative health outcomes during middle school with effects lasting through high school. Dr. DeGue and the Violence Prevention Solutions team continues to support Dating Matters implementation through the country, as well as an adaptation by the Swedish government.

Dr. DeGue has published more than 90 peer-reviewed research articles and government reports, and briefed Congress on the importance of using public health and behavioral science research and practice to reduce rates of violence in the US. She led development of the first comprehensive estimate of the cost of rape to the US economy, and co-authored CDC’s Sexual Violence Prevention Resource for Action, providing actionable guidance to communities based on the best available research evidence. In addition to sexual and dating violence, Dr. DeGue collaborated with the Department of Homeland Security on the development of a public health approach to prevent targeted violence and terrorism prevention, and is particularly interested in the rise of hate-based ideologies rooted in misogyny and the ‘manosphere’.

Dr. DeGue served as a senior scientist in the Research and Evaluation Branch of CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention for 17 years until the Department of Health and Human Services eliminated this work in 2025. Trained as a forensic psychologist, she also serves as a professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. The focus of Dr. DeGue’s clinical training is in severe mental illness and the criminal justice system, and she has served as a non-clinical expert consultant and witness on multiple cases, including sexual violence on college campuses. Dr. DeGue regularly speaks at national conferences and meetings, translating the scientific evidence on violence prevention for the public and prevention practitioners through webinars, training, and the media.

In addition to violence prevention, Dr. DeGue is passionate about travelling the world with her family, woodworking, interior design, and al fresco dining in any weather!

Relevant Experience

Founder & Principal Consultant, Violence Prevention Solutions, LLC (2025-present)

Senior Scientist, CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention (2008-2025)

Associate Professor of Psychology (Adjunct), John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY (2014-present)

Assistant Professor of Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY (2006-2008) 

Education

PhD, Clinical Psychology

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

MA, Clinical Psychology

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

BA, Psychology & Sociology

University of Michigan