In 2008, González-Barrientos graduated from the National University of Costa Rica with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. Following graduation, she served as a clinical instructor at the National University of Costa Rica in the Department of Pathology. In 2009, she began her tenure as a pathologist at the Animal Health National Service in Costa Rica. While there, she was charged with bovine spongiform encephalopathy and rabies diagnosis in addition to brucellosis surveillance among stranded dolphins. González-Barrientos also helped establish the pathology laboratory at the Ministry of Livestock and Agriculture in 2010.
In 2019, she began her anatomic pathology residency at Cornell University. At Cornell, she served as a teaching assistant on the necropsy floor and performed histopathologic diagnosis on a great variety of animal species both on the biopsy and necropsies services.
González-Barrientos brings experience and expertise in the areas of infectious diseases, public health, wildlife and aquatic species diseases, and conservation to TVMDL.