Biography

Dr. Barrueco is a Professor of Psychology and Wylma & James Curtin Endowed Chair at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.

At CatholicU, Dr. Barrueco is a  member of the Children, Families, and Cultures Focus. and has served as the Director of the PhD Program in Clinical Psychology (including its reaccreditation). She also led the undergraduate Latin American and Latino Studies Minor and Certificate Degrees, and co-founded the University’s Institute for Latin American and Iberian Studies.  Additionally, Dr. Barrueco was as an Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Research in the College of Arts & Sciences. Dr. Barrueco has also served as a professor of psychology and director of clinical training at UMBC.

In terms of background and training, Dr. Barrueco's undergraduate degrees are in Psychology & Economics from Amherst College, magna cum laude. She obtained her doctorate at the University of Denver in Clinical Child Psychology with an emphasis in Cognitive Neuroscience and a full-year nationally matched internship at Children’s National Medical Center in Clinical Child and Pediatric Psychology. Dr. Barrueco subsequently focused on the identification and prevention of developmental and mental health difficulties as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Neuropsychology at Kennedy Krieger Institute. She also completed a research Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, designing and conducting prevention and intervention science investigations. Dr. Barrueco is a licensed psychologist in Maryland and DC. 

Dr. Barrueco's research program centers on examining and improving assessment, methodology, prevention, and intervention with children and families at the national, state, and local levels. Contributing to empirical and clinical advancements in this area are three interrelated investigative foci: 1) assessment and early identification of children’s functioning, 2) methodological advancements with children and families, and 3) community interventions. 

In collaboration with colleagues across the country, Dr. Barrueco created and led a nationally-representative study of Migrant and Seasonal Head Start with over 1400 participants focused on infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their agricultural families. Her research was also referenced in the development of national requirements in the assessment of bilingual children. In addition, Dr. Barrueco's grants have strengthened training in clinical psychology and service provision in the community. These studies and initiatives have been fiscally supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration, Spencer Foundation, and other entities.  

Finally, Dr. Barrueco engages with the local and national communities, recently serving on The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Forum for Children’s Well-Being.  Appointments have included the DC Bilingual Charter School Board, the Advisory Committee of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Immigration, the federal Expert Panel on Research Methods with Young Dual Language Learners, and the Policy and Communications Committee of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD). Throughout her training and career, she has been dedicated to learning and utilizing advanced statistics, including latent variable and multilevel level modeling, to advance scientific knowledge and practice with young immigrant children and families. This approach is rooted in a community-based participatory research framework involving strong collaborations with families and the local and national programs that serve them. 

For more, see the BIENESTAR/Wellbeing webpage.