American Family Therapy Academy

Martha E. Edwards, Ph.D., is the Founder and Director of the Center for the Developing Child and Family at the Ackerman Institute for the Family and also directs the Institute’s research program.  She is the creator of the Bright Beginnings Parent-Child Program, a manualized prevention program for families with infants and toddlers.  She  has served as a consultant and staff development specialist for Head Start and Even Start programs in New York City and New York State, trained thousands of school personnel in family-school collaboration, and been awarded numerous grants to develop programs for young children and their families.  She is currently a Board Member of the Zero-to-Three New York Network and on the editorial board of Family Process.

Martha is currently AFTA’s Vice President and chairing the New Generation Initiative.  She was Program Chair for AFTA’s 1998 Clinical-Research Conference and the 2003 Annual Meeting.  She has served as Board Member, Research Chair, Early Career Membership Chair, and edited the Winter 2008 AFTA Monograph:  Neuroscience and Family Therapy: Integrations and Applications.  She currently co-chairs the Couple Therapy Interest Group and serves on the ECM and Membership committees.