Martha E. Bernal

Martha E. Bernal (April 13, 1931 – September 28, 2001) was an American clinical psychologist. She earned her doctoral degree at Indiana University Bloomington in 1962. She was the first Hispanic woman to receive a doctorate in psychology in the United States. Initially, he was said to believe that "women were to be married and a college education for a woman was a waste", until he realized Martha's efforts and seriousness for her success.

Education Bernal began school in 1937 at a time when students at her school were prohibited from speaking Spanish. Bernal recalled this environment as leading her to feel shame about her ethnicity and native tongue.

Work After obtaining her doctoral degree from Indiana University in 1962, Bernal applied for various faculty jobs. Unable to get a faculty position, she obtained a U.S. Public Health Service Postdoctoral Fellowship at UCLA and conducted research for two years. Eventually she became known nationally for displaying how behavioral interventions for children operate and the interventions' ability to operate over time, as well as for developing the Ethnic Identity Questionnaire. Bernal and her colleagues adapted the Ethnic Identity Questionnaire to measure ethnic identity development among young Mexican American children. She worked from 1964 to 1971 in the UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute developing behavioral interventions and then continued her work at the University of Denver from 1971 to 1986. They found that although many manuals adequately presented behavioral principles and procedures, relatively few had been empirically evaluated to determine whether their use resulted in measurable behavioral change. Bernal and North emphasized the importance of evaluating parent-training programs through direct measures of changes in both parent and child behavior rather than relying solely on consumer evaluations.This work reflected Bernal's broader emphasis on empirically evaluating behavioral interventions rather than assuming that commonly used clinical practices were effective. and The Counseling Psychologist showing the paucity of courses in multicultural health and the gross underrepresentation of minority students and faculty across clinical psychology programs in the United States. Among her awards, Bernal received the Distinguished Life Achievement Award from APA's Division 45, and APA's Distinguished Contribution to Psychology in the Public Interest Award in 2001. One of Bernal's most notable accomplishments was the education and mentoring of numerous students. She helped her students navigate issues that she herself had struggled with throughout her life and academic career. Today, several scholarships have been created in her name to offset the costs of higher education for minority students, with a particular focus on women. She wanted to help students have equal opportunities for advancement in psychology. She has gained extensive acknowledgments from the people she has interacted with, becoming an inspiration to many of her followers and peers. Their work documented limitations in training related to ethnic-minority populations as well as the underrepresentation of ethnic-minority students and faculty within psychology training programs. Bernal and Padilla argued for increased attention to culturally relevant education, recruitment, and training within clinical psychology. They reported evidence of progress while also identifying continuing limitations in the preparation of psychologists for research and service with ethnic-minority populations.

Death In her later years, Bernal battled cancer and was eventually forced to stop her work due to declining health. However, she continued to be an influential leader by working with the Commission on Ethnic Minority in the fields of recruitment, retention, and training, remaining an active member until her death. After recovering from cancer three times, she was diagnosed with lung cancer and died at the age of 70 on September 28, 2001.