The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work is deeply saddened by the loss of a beloved professor, colleague, mentor and friend. Concepción (Concha) Barrio, professor emerita, passed away on July 15, 2025. She dedicated her career to advocacy for the Latinx population, and other underserved and marginalized people, and built a national reputation in mental health services research, particularly the interaction of ethnicity and effective clinical practice.

Barrio was an associate professor at USC from 2006 until her retirement in December 2024, then granted emerita status. In addition to her research and teaching, Barrio served as executive vice dean during a period of tremendous transition for the school of social work from 2019 to 2021. For the university, she served on the USC Academic Senate, USC Graduate School Task Force for Advanced PhD Fellowships, USC Social Sciences, Communication and Business Subcommittee on Curriculum, and as coordinator for the summer orientation and training for the USC Clinical Psychology Program under the NIH National Center of Minority Health and Health Disparities.

A proud alumna of USC, Barrio received her Master of Social Work in 1980 and her PhD in Social Work in 1998. 

“It was an honor to mentor Dr. Barrio through her PhD studies at USC, and to help recruit her to USC where she finished her highly productive academic career,” said John Brekke, professor emeritus of USC Social Work. “She was steadfast in her commitment to understanding the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity and culture on the lives and recovery of individuals diagnosed with serious mental illness. She was also deeply dedicated to mentoring and developing the next generation of scholars. An exemplary researcher, teacher and mentor, and her scholarship is held in high regard in national and international circles.”

Barrio’s immense contributions in research and practice have examined key aspects of ethnic disparities in health and mental health services for Latinx and other underserved and underresearched populations dealing with serious mental illness and co-morbid conditions. During the 1980s, Barrio led the first outpatient unit dedicated to Latinx people and families living with serious mental illness at El Centro Community Mental Health Center in East Los Angeles. Her decades of clinical experience with multicultural populations enhanced her focus on ethnocultural factors in serious mental illness and the cultural relevance of psychosocial services. Between 1997 and 2009, she was principal investigator on four National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) grants focused on ethnocultural factors in serious mental illness, sociocentricity in schizophrenia, mental health for Latinx youth, and the development of a culturally-based family intervention for Mexican-American families dealing with schizophrenia. Barrio also co-led a NIMH-R01 study focused on improvement of the informed consent process for Latinx with schizophrenia, addressing the underrepresentation of Latinx in mental health and other biomedical research. 

Most recently, Barrio was co-investigator of an intervention study on behalf of caregivers caring for a loved one living with dementia. In June 2025, she led a focus group study on “Participant Perspectives on Online Interventions for Diverse Caregivers of Persons Living with Dementia,” published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, The Journal of The Alzheimer’s Association. Based on in-depth interviews with English- and Spanish-speaking participants, she explored caregivers’ nuanced perspectives on their lived experiences, program acceptability and recommendations for future evidence-based educational and skill-building interventions for the millions of caregivers of people living with dementia in the U.S. 

“Dr. Concha Barrio was a multifaceted scholar, educator, mentor and social work clinician,” said María P. Aranda, the Margaret W. Driscoll/Louise M. Clevenger Professor in Social Policy and Administration and executive director of the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging. “She was one of the few faculty members in our school who was able to seamlessly go from teaching a psychopathology course to administering academic programs during turbulent times to conducting groundbreaking research with Hispanic/Latino communities, while also mentoring a new generation of sociobehavioral scientists. She left an indelible mark in the fields of social work practice and mental health through her work. Above all, Dr. Barrio was a holistic scholar and practitioner who understood the power of the whole person — body, heart, mind and soul. Her drive to address social injustices was unyielding and a cornerstone of her academic, professional and personal life.”

Perhaps one of Barrio’s greatest contributions during her tenure at USC was on behalf of the immigrant community of Los Angeles. She established a partnership between USC Social Work and the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles to provide direct mental health services in a consular setting. It is the first time that a consulate has served as an open clinic for mental health services anywhere in the world. The program offered at the Mexican consulate combines in-person with online mental health service access, expanding its reach to a network of culturally receptive community agencies for client referrals. Counseling services are provided through a practicum placement staffed by MSW students at USC, providing them with a rich professional experience to witness first-hand how social work practice directly benefits the Mexican immigrant community. 

Barrio was also a deeply dedicated mentor and left an indelible legacy in her many mentees at academic institutions throughout the United States. She received the USC Mellon Award for Excellence in Mentoring in 2008, and the Mentor Recognition Initiative Honor from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) in 2011 and 2015. Barrio was a member of the California Latino Social Work Network, National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI), Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) and the U.S. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (USPRA).

The passion for her research, practice and teaching, enthusiasm to collaborate and love for the social work profession will be sorely missed by all at USC who had the great fortune of working with her. Barrio was a formidable champion for social good, and her contributions will educate and inspire many generations of social workers.