BIO
Gonzalo Bacigalupe, EdD (University of Massachusetts Amherst), MPH (Harvard University) is Associate Professor, Master of Science in Family Therapy Program and the PhD in Counseling and School Psychology at the College of Education & Human Development, University of Massachusetts Boston.
He is an Ikerbasque Research Professor at the Psychology & Education College, University of Deusto. He is Adjunct Professor with the Master Psychotherapeutic Intervention, National University at Distance in Spain.
Currently, his research with colleagues in Spain, Mexico, and USA, focuses on transnational and immigrant families, the impact of social technologies, family health and e-health, and family psychotherapy. With funding from the Spanish government and the Basque Country, he has become a senior research member of the Deusto Stress and Resilience Research Team adding mixed and qualitative methodologies to a longitudinal study of adolescent depression and child to parent interpersonal violence. His research has included transnational families and couples, political and family violence, refugees and immigrants’ health and family health and disparities (celiac, chronic pain, and medication strategies and literacy), e-health, and social technologies.
Bacigalupe’s most recent efforts include developing an international consortium to study the adoption of technology by families. These ongoing cross-national studies include the design of surveys to study the impact of adoption of emerging media: the Emerging Technologies & Families Survey (SEFT) and the International Students ICT SURVEY (ISICT). To further this development in the healthcare context, he is collaborating with the Basque Institute for Healthcare Innobation (o+berri) to assess the impact of virtual communities of practice in the healthcare sector. In all cases, Bacigalupe is focused on how the adoption of technology has an impact on vulnerable populations (immigrants, the chronically ill, and those at risk of being negatively impacted by health inequity).
Dr. Bacigalupe was a Senior Fulbright Research Fellow at the Autonomic University of Barcelona. He has received funding by National Institute of Aging, the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, the American Psychological Foundation, the Spanish Minister of Education, and the Basque Government. Dr. Bacigalupe is Associate Editor and Photography Editor of the Family Systems & Health, a journal published by APA and spearheaded by the Collaborative Family Health Association. He is also member of the editorial board of the Journal of Marital & Family Therapy, Qualitative Research in Psychology, AFTA Monograph Series, and BioMed Central Public Health. He serves as reviewer for the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIEE), the Spanish Minister of Education and Science, the Catalunya Government Research Agency, and others. Bacigalupe is elected Councilor of the American Public Health Association International Section, Vice-President for Public Interest & Diversity of the Society for Family Psychology (Division 43 of the American Psychological Association), advisor of the APA Presidential Task Force on Immigration, Chair of the American Family Therapy Academy Awards Committee, and Member at Large in the Executive Committee of the Society for Participatory Medicine.
A native from Chile, Gonzalo completed his psychology and clinical psychology degree at the Catholic University of Chile before graduating from a counseling and consulting psychology program in Massachusetts. Dr Bacigalupe started his carrer in Chile as a professor at the University of Los Lagos in Osorno, a university that serves rural and indigenous students first in their families attending college. He was also clinical lead of PIDEE in Temuco and Valdivia- a family mental health human rights of organization aiding political prisoners, victims of the military dictatorship, and their families. His doctoral dissertation research provided evidence to support the passing of a bill to prevent and penalize violence against women in Chile. . While completing his doctoral degree in Amherst, he worked as a supervisor and clinician with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Against Children in Holyoke and Springfield, leading a Latino family therapy team. A few years later, in Boston, he worked as a forensic evaluator with the trauma evaluation and intervention team at the Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston. Since 2008, Dr. Bacigalupe has volunteered with Physicians for Human Rights in the forensic assessment of political asylum and human right violation cases.
Bacigalupe is Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Boston Institute for Culturally Accountable Practices (BICAP) which the Family Therapy Networker awarded the group their Innovations in Training Awards to honor excellence and outstanding achievement in providing quality clinical training. This team of clinicians has consulted, among others, with the Boston Red Sox and Harvard Medical Schoolon cultural competence and institutional social justice. Dr. Bacigalupe is member of several international and national professional societies including the European Family Therapy Association, the International Family Therapy Association, the Association of Internet Researchers, and the Celiac Spanish Society, among others. The Massachusetts Association of Marital and Family Therapyhonored Dr. Bacigalupe in 2007 with an Award in Recognition of Exceptional Contribution to the Profession of Family Therapy. Gonzalo is a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist in Massachusetts, an AAMFT Approved Supervisor, a National Registered Health Provider, and a Massachusetts Child & Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) Certified Assessor. .
