Dr. Barbara Gomez-Aguinaga is the Associate Director of the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, which aims to understand the state of Latino entrepreneurship through original data collection and analyses, shaping research in the field. This project is the longest-running scientific research on Latino entrepreneurship.

As a Latino politics scholar and social equity expert, Dr. Gomez-Aguinaga has conducted and managed research on pressing social and economic issues facing the Latino community in the United States, including health, immigration, and economic equity through entrepreneurship.

In the past, Dr. Gomez-Aguinaga was an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Social Equity at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, and a Doctoral Fellow at the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJF) Foundation Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico. She also served as researcher and independent research contractor for multiple organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, DC, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco, CA, and Latino Decisions.

Her research has been featured in prominent media outlets such as the New York Times and NBC News, has led to policy changes in the criminal justice system in New Mexico, and has been cited in the US Courts, the Senate, and congressional hearings and testimonies addressing the incorporation of racial minorities and immigrant youth.