Margaret Bates graduated Magna Cum Laude from Duke University with a major in psychology and a minor in Spanish. While at Duke, she received the Howard Hughes Fellowship to complete her senior research thesis on the psychological effects of aging in ringtail lemurs. She also studied abroad in Bolivia during her junior year and interned in the psychiatric ward of El Hóspital de Clínicas in La Paz. After graduating, she worked toward her Ph.D. in developmental psychology with an emphasis on teaching social skills to autistic children at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

After leaving UAB, Margaret earned her associate’s degree in medical Spanish interpretation from Durham Technical Community College and shadowed with interpreters at both Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill hospitals. She has volunteered with local health clinics, like The Esperanza Center of Baltimore and the House of Hope in Glen Burnie, MD. In 2016, she returned to her first love of psychology and graduated in 2020 with her master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology from The University of Baltimore. Her master’s thesis centered around reducing the negative impact of bullying and ostracism within organizations.

In her free time, she contributes monthly public interest profiles to The Severna Park Voice. She also tries to squeeze in walks with her very needy Chihuahua, Bean, and swimming at the YMCA when time permits.