Gonzalo Bacigalupe, EdD, MPH, is Professor of Counseling Psychology, School of Education and Human Development, University of Massachusetts Boston and Research Associate of CreaSur, Universidad de Concepción.  He is a board director of Family Process Institute (2018-2021) and has been elected as Treasurer (2022-2025). As a researcher and disaster resilience activist, he has been actively engaged in the COVID-19 pandemic as part of an emerging grassroots network of public health professionals, social scientists, and experts mobilizing to change the COVID-19 strategy to prevent the contagion in Chile. Dr. Bacigalupe is also a member of research teams in the USA inquiring on the impact of COVID-19 on families and communities, health equity, trauma, and the climate crisis.

Bacigalupe´s research asks the question of how citizen participation is enabled by and builds community resilience for disaster reduction through technology innovations and education in situated contexts, the impact of emerging media adoption on families. He has published and presented on  the role of emerging digital technologies and vulnerable populations including online patient communities, transnational families and couples, political and family violence, family health and disparities (celiac disease, chronic pain, and medication strategies and literacy), e-health, social technologies and disaster risk reduction.

An abstract plastic artist, with an artist certification issued by the City of Boston and member of the Fort Points Art Collaborative. His work has been showcased at the 2018 exhibition: Liminal Territory and the Cartographies of Bodies and Territories January of 2019 at the PUC Innovation Center, the UC Campus San Joaquín Library, and the Casa Central Hall. He is a winner of the 2018 and 2019 Artifica Awards. His book catalog Cartographies of Bodies and Territories was published in 2019. He is preparing an exhibition and a new book named Uncertain Cartographies, Spring of 2020. His paintings have been included in a book cover and the American Psychologist and a report published by the Mauricio Gastón Institute. He directed the COVID-19 Latinx Art Project with two UMASS Boston students, an art research project to support artistic expressions related to the pandemic, racism, and the Latinx experience. His most recent exhibition in 2022 is the Quarantine Series.

In 2020, Gonzalo was a candidate to the Chilean Constitution Convention. His individual bid lost but his list Apruebo Dignidad is one of the lists that gain one of the largest amount of delegates into the convention that will write a new constitution for Chile.

Gonzalo  was president of the American Family Therapy Academy (2014-2016). He was recipient of the American Psychological Association Carolyn Attneave Diversity Award; and the Massachusetts Association of Marital and Family Therapy Award in Recognition of Exceptional Contribution to the Profession of Family Therapy; APA fellow of the Society of Family Psychology, International Psychology, and Quantitative and Qualitative Methods divisions, and editorial board member of Family Process, Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, Journal of Family Psychotherapy, Qualitative Research in Psychology, and Revista Psykhe.

Professor Bacigalupe was co-principal investigator of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Pilot research project Influence and evidence: Understanding consumer choices in preventive care and faculty in the Health Equity Scholars Program of the UMass Center for Health Equity Intervention Research (CHEIR), an NIMHHD P-60 5 years grant for a joint effort of the UMASS Medical School and UMass Boston. For several years he was associate research professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the UMASS Medical School. In conjunction with the Basque Institute for Healthcare Innovation (o+Berri) and the Population Health Management Research Team at Kronikgune, Bacigalupe evaluated the role of healthcare virtual communities of practice and the role of social networks in supporting patients with chronic illness. He collaborated with the Deusto Stress and Resilience Research Team and the Basque Prescribe Healthy Life (PVS) research team and its primary health practice outcome based implementation research.  A passionate advocate of patient participation, his work was featured in the 2014 Stanford MedX Conference. At Harvard, Gonzalo was research coordinator of a project that intended to expand the participation of patients of color in clinical trials (Phase 3).  Until 2020, Bacigalupe was principal investigator at the Research Center for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (CIGIDEN), leading an education and citizen government research projects and led a community cartography participatory action research initiative that employ drones to strengthen disaster risk reduction among vulnerable communities in Chile.

Gonzalo is Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Boston Institute for Culturally Accountable Practices (BICAP) which the Family Therapy Networker awarded the Innovative Training Award for excellence and outstanding achievement in providing quality clinical training. BICAP has consulted, among others, with the Boston Red Sox and Harvard Medical School on cultural competence and institutional equity.  Dr. Bacigalupe is a strategic advisor of RegroupTherapy, a web-based platform that provides a simple and secure space for therapists and clients to connect online.

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. He holds a degree in clinical psychology from the Catholic University of Chile, a doctoral degree in Counseling and Consulting Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a Master in Public Health from Harvard University.

Dr. Bacigalupe was Ikerbasque Research Professor at the University of Deusto and Senior Fulbright Research Fellow at the Autonomic University of Barcelona. He has received funding by National Institute of Aging, Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, American Psychological Foundation, Bizkaia Lab, the Spanish Minister of Education, the Basque Government, o+Berri, among others. In the past years he has served as Councilor (2010-2013) of the American Public Health Association International Section, and VP for Public Interest & Diversity (2010-2012) of the Society for Family Psychology (Div. 43 APA), Executive Committee Member at Large (2011-2012) of the Society for Participatory Medicine, and Associate Editor of Family Systems & Health.

Recents OpEds

August 20, 2020

July 10, 2020

May 28, 2020

March 14, 2020