Barbara is named after her paternal grandmother, former First Lady Barbara Bush, and attended her father's, grandfather George H.W. Bush's, and great-grandfather Prescott Bush's alma mater, Yale University. Barbara is working with AIDS patients in Africa through a program sponsored by the Houston-based Baylor College of Medicine's International Pediatrics AIDS Initiative. In 2006, Barbara joined her mother on diplomatic trips to Liberia in January 2006, attending the inaugaration of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and to the Vatican City to meet with Pope Benedict XVI in February 2006.