Nancy Boyd-Franklin

Boyd-Franklin was born in Harlem, NY on June 13, 1950 to Regina and Rudolph Boyd.[2] Her father was a policeman and her mother a teacher. Her mother's family came from Jamaica and her father's family from North Carolina. After graduating high school, Boyd-Franklin attended Swarthmore College where she earned her bachelors of science in 1972.[2] She continued her studies of clinical psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, earning her Masters of Science in 1974 and her Doctorate of Philosophy in 1977.[2]

Boyd-Franklin is a professor of psychology at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University. Her books include Black Families in Therapy: A Multisystem Approach; Children, Families, and HIV/AIDS: Psychosocial and Therapeutic Issues; Reaching Out in Family Therapy: Home-Based, School and Community Intervention with Brenna Bry, PhD; and Boys Into Men: Raising Our African American Teenage Sons with Anderson J. Franklin, PhD.[3] The second edition of her book Black Families in Therapy: Understanding the African American Experience was published in 2006.[4] She is known for developing home-based and community-based therapies servicing black families, bringing psychology to the clients instead of waiting until clients come to the clinic. This system helps to organize and implement a treatment plan at the nuclear family, extended family, and systems levels.[5][6]

In 1974, Boyd-Franklin was named Thomas J. Watson Fellow, which allowed her to study language and community in East and West Africa.[2] 1991, she was cited for her Pioneering Contribution to the Field of Family Therapy by the American Family Therapy Association.[2] In 1994, Boyd-Franklin was named Distinguished Psychologist of the Year by the Association of Black Psychologists.[7] Boyd-Franklin received an Honorary Doctorate from the Phillips Graduate Institute in 2006. She was also awarded with a Drs. Charles and Shirley Thomas Award from Division 45 of the APA.[8]