Director of Training
Marlene F. Watson, Ph.D., LMFT is the Ackerman Institute’s Director of Training. She is the former Chair of the Couple and Family Therapy Department and Associate Professor Emerita in the Department of Counseling and Family Therapy at Drexel University in Philadelphia. She is a licensed couple and family therapist in private practice and the author of the book, Facing the Black Shadow. Dr. Watson is Past President of Family Process Institute’s (FPI) Board of Directors and has served on the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy (JMFT), Journal of Family Psychotherapy (JFP) and Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships (JBSR). She is the former Chair of the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education and the first ever couple and family therapist to receive the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship where she served as a senior health advisor to United States Senator John D. Rockefeller IV. She is a former columnist for Heart & Soul magazine and the recipient of the American Family Therapy Academy’s (AFTA) 2009 Distinguished Contribution to Social Justice Award.
