Dr. Ackerman is the Executive Director of the American Teledentistry Association. Clinically, he specializes in the orthodontic treatment of patients with dentofacial deformity, intellectual and physical disabilities and sleep disordered breathing. Dr. Ackerman is the Director of Orthodontics at Boston Children's Hospital where he practices orthodontics full time. He also teaches residents in both pediatric dentistry and orthodontics at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

Dr. Ackerman has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in orthodontics and professional ethics and his monograph, Enhancement Orthodontics: Theory and Practice, was released in 2007 by Blackwell-Wiley. He is a co-recipient of the 2004 B.F. and Helen E. Dewel Award from the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics which is given annually to the highest-rated clinical research article published in the previous year. Dr. Ackerman was the Editor-in-Chief of Special Care in Dentistry Journal from 2013-2016.