Dr. Judith Bernhard moved to Canada in 1973 from Chile. She graduated with Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education from Ryerson in 1979. After this she moved to Puerto Rico to work in a children's learning disability clinic. In the early 1980's Judith returned to Ryerson, working in the schools Early Learning Centre. While working here she completed her Master's degree in Educational theory at the University of Toronto in 1985, and her Ph.D in Special Education from the University of Toronto in 1990. She began working as an associate professor with the school of Early Childhood Education at Ryerson, and gained full professorship in the early 1990's. She is also the Director of the MA in Early Childhood Studies program. During her time at Ryerson, Dr. Bernard has authored or co-authored many papers, reports, books, and book chapters and has been principal investigator on 7 major research studies. Her main focus of research is on immigrant and refugee children and cultural issues in human development and education. She has won the Sarwan Sahota Award and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Ryerson. She was also awarded the Maria De Wit Metropolitan Toronto Children's Services Award, and in 2002 she was granted a Fulbright Fellowship.