In 1998, researchers from the CDC and Kaiser-Permanente put out a groundbreaking study. They catalogued a variety of what they called ACEs. It stands for "Adverse Childhood Experiences." ACEs included things like sexual or physical abuse, or living in a home with domestic violence or substance abuse.

The researchers found that the more ACEs someone has, the higher the chance of all kinds of negative health outcomes — from heart disease to cancer to mental illness.

Now the public health community is catching up with this cutting-edge science. Pediatricians, social workers and teachers are asking: Since we know just how damaging childhood traumas are, how do we respond to them? And how can we prevent them in the first place?

We listen back to a conversation with national expert Nadine Burke Harris, author of "The Deepest Well;" RJ Gillespie, pediatrician at The Children's Clinic; Amy Stoeber, child and adolescent psychologist; Sue Skinner, pediatrician at The Children's Center; Ellen Baltus, social worker in the North Clackamas school district and Fariborz Pakseresht, Director of Oregon's Department of Human Services