Washington — Cynthia de las Fuentes, PhD, a psychologist in Austin, Texas, known for her efforts to bring mental health services to Latinx immigrant populations, has been elected 2024 president of the American Psychological Association.
An independent practitioner, de las Fuentes offers consultation, psychotherapy and forensic evaluations in both English and Spanish. She provides expert testimony on the victims of hate crimes as well as racial, gender and sexual orientation discrimination, and she conducts immigration psychological evaluations. Her pro bono work includes training bilingual psychologists in her community on the culturally and linguistically competent delivery of forensic evaluation services to the Latinx immigrant community and delivering self-care and stress management workshops to immigration lawyers and their staff.
“I have been privy to how, as psychologists, we possess the unique opportunity and responsibility as social change agents to educate and facilitate systemic improvements to benefit society and improve lives not only within our discipline but in our communities as well,” said de las Fuentes. “I believe we must broaden our scientific and practice base because we are in a critical time in our country where we need all hands to meet the needs of our communities.”
As APA president, de las Fuentes will aim to create inclusive spaces, equitable cultures and socially just practices and policies that promote “inclusive psychology for all.” She hopes to further APA's commitment to dismantle the hierarchal and exclusive structures within the field of psychology, amplifying all voices—both privileged and marginalized—to create initiatives that engender belonging and inclusion within APA and the science and practice of psychology.
A former member of the APA Board of Directors and a past chair of the Council Leadership Team, de las Fuentes has been active in APA governance for more than a decade. She was a member of the Board of Educational Affairs, chair of the Committee for Women in Psychology, and currently serves on the Policy and Planning Board. She also served on the APA Council of Representatives representing Division 45, the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race.
De las Fuentes is a founding member of National Latinx Psychological Association and was elected a member and secretary of the Board of Trustees for the Texas Psychological Association. In 2022, she was awarded Psychologist of the Year by the Texas Psychological Association, and in 2019, she received the National Latinx Psychological Association Distinguished Madrina Recognition for Outstanding Accomplishments.
She earned a PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1994 and has been licensed by the state of Texas since 1996. From 1993-2007, she was a tenured associate professor of psychology at Our Lady of the Lake University and held numerous leadership positions within the university and department, including training director. Her scholarship focuses on ethics in psychology as well as feminist, multicultural and Latinx psychology.