Natasha Latzman has a transdisciplinary background in clinical psychology, law and public health. She has more than 17 years of applied research and evaluation experience focused on improving the health and well-being of vulnerable children, families, and communities. Dr. Latzman provides scientific expertise in the design and implementation of projects related to violence and victimization (e.g., child maltreatment, human trafficking and sexual exploitation, child exposure to violence) and child and adolescent behavioral and mental health.
Dr. Latzman is currently the director of a Department of Homeland Security effort designed to identify challenges and opportunities to support law enforcement operations to combat Internet crimes against children. She also serves as associate project director for the Administration for Children and Families’ Human Trafficking Policy and Research Analyses Project, including leading a formative evaluation of the Human Trafficking Youth Prevention Education Demonstration program. She also provides leadership on tasks related to research planning and data collection for the Domestic Human Trafficking and the Child Welfare Population project, designed to identify and better assist children and youth served by child welfare who are victims of, or are at risk of, human trafficking. Her work also involves ongoing analyses of state child welfare and juvenile justice administrative data, with a focus on the identification and prevention of victimization among youth in care.
Before joining RTI, Dr. Latzman was a behavioral scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she served as a subject matter expert in violence against children and youth. In this capacity, she led evaluations of violence prevention policies and programs, and served as lead author of two middle school-based programs developed to prevent adolescent dating violence and promote healthy relationship behaviors, Dating Matters®: Strategies to Promote Health Teen Relationships.
