Dr. Barton is known for her development of miniature endoscopes that combine multiple optical imaging techniques, particularly optical coherence tomography and fluorescence spectroscopy. She evaluates the suitability of these endoscopic techniques for detecting early cancer in patients and pre-clinical models. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal papers in these research areas. She is currently a professor of biomedical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, optical sciences, agriculture-biosystems engineering and medical imaging at the University of Arizona. She has served as department head of biomedical engineering, associate vice-president for research, and is currently director of the BIO5 Institute, a collaborative research institute dedicated to solving complex biology-based problems affecting humanity. She is a fellow of SPIE (international society for optics and photonics) and a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.