After receiving a B.A. in Psychology from Albertus Magnus College, she attended the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT, earning a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, with a research emphasis on psycholinguistics. Following work as a liberal arts Assistant Professor of Psychology at UMass-Dartmouth, Hofstra University and the University of Connecticut, and subsequent employment as a Human Factors Engineer at Burroughs Corporation, she entered medical school at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington, CT, earning an M.D. Dr. McQuade completed residency training in Adult Psychiatry and Fellowship training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. During training, Dr. McQuade was named a Laughlin Fellow by the American College of Psychiatrists