Barbara Bolick, PhD

Biography

Barbara Bolick holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin. She worked in community-based health promotion and economic development in Chile from 2000 – 2018. In Chile, Barbara developed programming designed to promote self-efficacy among underserved, early adolescent girls who are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. She also advised and supported local women throughout the process of forming community-based health committees in three rural communities. She currently coordinates youth development programming initiatives for underserved youth in The Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Mexico. Her research focuses on identifying strategies to promote mental health among underserved Spanish speaking youth in the US, Central America, and the Caribbean. Barbara began her Ph.D. in Youth Development at Texas A&M University in 2018 and received her degree in May of 2025. She joined the teaching faculty of the School of Public Health, in the Department of Health Behavior on August 1 of 2024.

Education

• PhD , Youth Development Texas A&M University, 2025
• BA, Government (Emphasis in International Relations) University of Texas, 1994

Research Interests

• Developmental outcomes of low-income.
• Spanish speaking adolescent girls, living in Central America and in the United States.
• Ways to support social-emotional learning in the face of persistent adversity.

Teaching Interests

• Community Health
• Population Health
• Program Evaluation
• Grant Writing