She has been an associate at Yale University’s Child Study Center, an adjunct professor at New York University’s Heyman Center for Fundraising and Philanthropy and the staff psychologist at one of New York’s foremost private schools. She received her doctorate (with distinction) from Yeshiva University’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology and has been a member of the American Psychological Association since 1986. In inadvertent preparation for a career in psychology, Dr. Ackerman has worked as a senior book editor and for a major Hollywood studio.