C. Françoise Acra, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Institute for Prevention Science at the NYU Child Study Center. She is presently working with ParentCorps, a prevention program involving public schools and communities to promote social and academic competence and prevent conduct problems in preschoolers living in socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Her research interests focus on toddlers and preschoolers, with or at risk for behavioral disturbances, and examining the effects of preventive intervention programs. Conceptually, Dr. Acra is interested in the early identification of the risk and protective factors affecting children's development that can be targeted by preventive intervention programs in order to promote optimal developmental trajectories among populations of vulnerable children.

Dr. Acra earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Applied Developmental Psychology at the University of Miami. She received her B.S. in Psychology at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada.

During her doctoral training, Dr. Acra worked on a longitudinal study at the Linda Ray Intervention Project, an early intervention program for infants born to substance-abusing families. Dr. Acra was awarded a NIH Minority Pre-Doctoral Research Fellowship, which supported her research and doctoral training. She also received the University of Miami Carol Alson Fineman Award for her research in the area of child maltreatment. Dr. Acra is a member of the Society for Research in Child Development and the International Society on Infant Studies.