Jazmin Manjarrez, CMI-Spanish Chair nbcmichair@certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org + Bio

Jazmin Manjarrez is the owner of LinguaCulture Connections, a company that provides quality interpreter training in Portland, Oregon. She is also a Lead Trainer for THE COMMUNITY INTERPRETER ® International Edition, a program approved by the State of Oregon to meet the 60-hour interpreter training requirement to become a Qualified or Certified Health Care Interpreter.

Prior to becoming Chair for the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters in 2018, she held the positions of Vice Chair and Director for NBCMI. She also served on the Board of the Oregon Society of Translators and Interpreters (OSTI) as Interim President, Vice President and Conference Chair. Jazmin is an active member of the International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA).

Jazmin is a Certified Medical Interpreter (CMI) - Spanish, as well as a Certified Health Care Interpreter in Oregon. She is passionate about the interpreting profession and strives to promote professionalism in all aspects of the field. She advocates for training, mentoring and professional development for all interpreters. She has been a medical interpreter for 16+ years and has gained broad experience working in a wide variety of medical settings, both as a staff interpreter and as a freelancer.

Nouria Belmouloud BA & MA in English, Linguistics and Literature Manager, Duke International Patient Services, Durham, North Carolina Secretary secretary@certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org + Bio

Nouria was born and raised in Algeria. She Speaks English, French, Arabic and Berber. She moved to the US in 1996 and worked as an interpreter at Duke University Health System since 1998. She was promoted to Supervisor of International Patient Services and Language Services in 2006. She received training of trainers by CCHCP in 2000 and has since provided and facilitated a number of Bridging the Gap training sessions in the Carolinas along with her team of trainers. She is an active member of IMIA and of the Forum of Coordinators of Interpreter Services, North Carolina and South Carolina Chapter. She was recently trained to become a TeamSTEPPS LEP module trainer to endorse the involvement of medical interpreters in supporting a culture of safety for LEP patients.

Aida Adams Director of Language Services, Catholic Charities of Louisville, KY Director aida@certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org + Bio

Aida Adams is a native Bosnian who, prior to coming to the U.S. in 1997, lived and worked six years in Germany. She became active as a linguist early on – in middle school. Since her arrival to the U.S., Aida has worked closely with refugee and immigrant population in Louisville, Kentucky.

Being fluent in Bosnian and German, Aida has been working as an interpreter and translator since 1992. She has experience in legal, medical, and social interpreting and translation. Since 2000, she has also been an instructor for “Bridging the Gap” training for medical interpreters founded by CCHCP.  Aida is a member of IMIA and ATA.

She has been working as the Director of Language Services at Catholic Charities of Louisville, KY, since 2000.  She is involved in Standardized Patient program of University of Louisville School of Medicine.

Aida has degrees in Marketing, and Management from Indiana University.

She is passionate about the work involving linguistic differences, diverse populations, medical science, and improvement of standards in the language industry. In her personal life she enjoys traveling, meeting new people, dancing, and creating new culinary dishes.

Ricardo Diaz-Canedo, MD, CMI-Spanish Director ricardo@certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org + Bio

Dr. Díaz-Canedo grew up in Peru, lived in Canada, and then moved to the U.S. where he developed his interest in languages and pursued his professional career. Growing up in several countries and being exposed to multicultural environments, Dr. Díaz-Canedo developed his interests in language interpreting and medical science as a way to help the underrepresented communities he lived in. He studied at the University of California, at San Diego (UCSD) obtaining a Bachelor's Degree in Biology. He worked for the University of California’s Smoking Cessation Program as a Bilingual Counselor and for the UCSD Emergency Department as Patient Assistant/Interpreter, subsequently he was hired as Staff Medical Interpreter for the entire U.C. San Diego Medical Center. In the pursuit of higher education, he applied for and was accepted into the University of California, at Irvine (UCI), where he obtained a Post-Baccalaureate Degree and a Medical Doctorate Degree from the UC Irvine School of Medicine. He did his medical internship and attended the Kern-UCLA Psychiatry Residency Program.

Dr. Díaz-Canedo has a wide range of experience in the field of medical interpreting and scientific translations. This includes being a Staff Hospital Medical Interpreter, a Telephonic Interpreter, and a Simultaneous Conference Interpreter. His education and background in medicine provided him with the knowledge and expertise to contribute as Senior Language Consultant, Medical Editor, and Clinical Review Specialist for many interpreting companies. He is Co-Author and Medical Editor of Language Line University's Advanced Medical Training Manual, the textbook used to train medical interpreters throughout the country. He was part of the team of Subject Matter Experts hired to write and develop the National Medical Interpreters Certification Examination, for which he was also the Medical Editor. He looks forward to serving on the National Board to promote and further the professionalism of medical interpreting and assure language access to our medically underserved communities.

Gi Eun Oh, CMI-Korean The year of 2014 is very special to Gi Eun because she has become a CMI-Korean. While she is studying medical interpreting by herself and teaching it since 2009 in South Korea, she always wants to learn medical interpreting more professionally and become a certified medical interpreter, so she flew from South Korea to the US to take the CMI-Korean test and become a CMI-Korean. She has been a passionate medical interpreting curriculum developerand devoted instructor to educate qualified medical interpreters. Since 2015, her medical training center students have started to take tests from NBCMI to become a CMI-Korean. Gi Eun has published four medical English conversation books. She is a visiting assistant professor at Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine since 2011. She is an IMIA Korea Chapter Chairperson. She is an owner and founder of Gieun-Oh's Medical Interpreting Training Center since 2014. She has a B.S. in Medical Laboratory Science with Cytotechnology specialization from University of Utah (2000) and M.A in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from Ewha Womans University (2013). She studied Ph.D. course work in graduate school of Translation Interpretation in Ewha Womans University in Korea (2014).

Ana Alza Rodriguez, CMI/CTP-Spanish, BA Spanish, BSM Director ana@certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org + Bio

Ana Alza Rodriguez emigrated from southern Spain to the USA and settled in the Northern Kentucky/ Greater Cincinnati area in 1998. She studied Business Management and Spanish at Northern Kentucky University and proceeded to work assuring effective communication as a Certified Medical Interpreter and translator at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, a number one trauma hospital. She is currently working to achieve a Master in Healthcare Administration at the University of Cincinnati and an accelerated Bachelors of Science in Nursing at Northern Kentucky University. She is passionate about teaching foreign language and working with the community, especially with the Limited English Proficiency (LEP) patient population. Ana promotes the need of effective communication within the hospital setting in order to provide equality of healthcare for all patient regardless of language barriers and social cultural background. Ana is grateful for an amazing group of coworkers that have a common goal to make sure that LEP patients are welcomed in a way that has become customary in the hospital.

Barry Stratford, Esq Director barry@certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org + Bio

Barry G. Stratford is an attorney at the law firm Perkins Coie LLP. He focuses primarily on defending clients against allegations of trade secret theft, along with other complex business disputes. Barry has counseled both large and small companies in state and federal courts on a variety of litigation issues, including disputes related to copyright infringement, construction liability, insurance coverage, labor and employment class actions, product liability, securities, trademark infringement, and trade secret misappropriation. Barry also maintains an active pro bono practice and is engaged in a number of professional and community organizations in the Phoenix area.

Scott Swanson Language Line Solutions, Monterey, CA Director sswanson@certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org + Bio

As a Product Manager for LanguageLine Solutions, Scott works with valued clients to assess their language access programs and provide recommendations tailored to their individual organizational needs.

His role is to alleviate any concerns clients may have about hiring bilingual and interpreter staff by recommending the most appropriate language skills tests within the LanguageLine Academy suite of tests. These tests objectively measure an employee's ability to speak and interpret in a foreign language or English. Scott’s leadership guided the development of the new eLanguage Proficiency Test which won the 2015 Gold Stevie Award and People’s Choice Award from the American Business Awards.

His sales and operational expertise is significant. Prior to joining LanguageLine Solutions, he worked for Pfizer as a Regional Sales Representative for Northern California and as an Aviation Officer in the U.S. Army.

Scott served as an U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel in various positions of leadership, to include Chief of Plans and Operations at Fort Hunter Liggett, and the Dean of the Immersion Language Office for the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of Monterey. As the Dean of the Immersion Language Office, he managed overseas and domestic language training programs for over 200 students in 15 countries. He is the recipient of the Bronze Star and Air Medal for his service during the Iraq conflict as an Aviation Officer.

Graciela Zozaya, CMI-Spanish Manager Language Access Services, Harris Health System, Houston, Texas Director graciela@certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org + Bio

Originally from Mexico City, Graciela is a Certified Medical Interpreter (CMI) and a Master Court Interpreter. She has been involved in Language Access for the past 20 years working as translator and interpreter. She has served on the boards of directors of the Texas Association of Healthcare Interpreters and Translators, the National Council for Interpreting in Health Care and the Houston Interpreters and Translators Association. Currently, Graciela sits as Vice President for the Houston Interpreters and Translators Association. She has a degree in Adult Education from the Instituto Familiar y Social in Mexico City. She is a Trainer of Medical and Court Interpreters for the past 9 years. Graciela is also an instructor in the English to Spanish Translation Certificate program at the University of Houston Main Campus.

Casita Wild, MS Operations Manager + Bio

Casita has worked on a number of research projects designed to measure health care disparities in diverse communities nationally and internationally. In 1999, Casita was part of a research team that evaluated the efficacy of Boston based community organizations servicing diverse HIV positive populations. Her passion for understanding the AIDS epidemic brought her to Cape Town, South Africa where she worked as a consultant to design and implement an HIV prevention curriculum in Pollsmore Prison.

After returning from South Africa, Casita earned a Master degree in Intercultural Relations with a focus on cultural competency in health care. In 2005 she was a training and organizational development intern at the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA). She worked with the director of interpreter services to improve the hospitals cultural competency profile. She developed and implemented a training program for CHA interpreters designed to address issues in multicultural health care, including cultural barriers, and general access.

Casita also manages projects for the International Medical Interpreters Association. She conducted a national salary survey to document and track salary trends for medical interpreters over a five year period. Casita believes that medical interpreters are essential players to narrowing the health care disparities gap.

Beverly North, MS + Bio

Beverly North currently resides in Dayton, Ohio. She spent the first eighteen years of her life in the Denver, Colorado area, where she first learned Spanish. She met her husband, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, while attending Oral Roberts University, and settled down in Tulsa. While helping her husband raise two sons, she worked as an administrative assistant for various oil companies in the Tulsa area, and then became a Spanish teacher. Beverly has taught Spanish, including her own beginner's curriculum, to levels pre-school through adults in both private and public schools, and is retired from teaching at Tulsa Community College.

In 2007, Beverly earned her Masters of Science degree from Oklahoma State University (Stillwater) in International Studies. She has made several trips to Mexico and has studied in Costa Rica. She is a past advisor for the Hispanic Student Association at Tulsa Community College and was active in several community organizations in the Tulsa area. As the registrar for the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters, Beverly helps candidates navigate through the testing process toward national certification.

Marissa Gearhart + Bio

Marissa has been a part of the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters since June, 2014. Marissa was previously the Community Health Educator at the Hispanic Health Coalition of Georgia. She was the primary health educator for two programs: a prenatal health promotion and diabetes education. Previously, Marissa was the Multicultural Program Coordinator for the Department of Multicultural Affairs at Grady Health System in Atlanta, Georgia. She provided outreach and health education in the community; developed collaborations and partnerships with Consulates and other local organizations to offer free health screenings. She is also a Certified Spanish Medical Interpreter.

Tamarleigh Grenfell + Bio

Tamarleigh has more than 20 years of writing experience, with expertise in content architecture and tailoring information to a wide variety of audiences. Her background includes technical content writing and editing, science writing and editing, journalism, research, teaching, technical training, web design, desktop publishing, event planning, managing teams and projects, and communications process and strategy. Tamarleigh has a B.A. in Astronomy from Wellesley College.

​​A native English speaker born in Houston Texas, he studied Spanish and French in High School. Sean has traveled to Spain and worked as an escort interpreter in Costa Rica on multiple occasions. He spent a year as a staff interpreter at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta GA and three years developing and deploying interpreter educational programs for the Atlanta, GA area. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Medical Interpreter Network of Georgia (MING) as registrar and webmaster, as Chair of the IMIA Education Committee and Austin representative for the IMIA Texas chapter. Sean is currently with the National Board for Certification of Medical Interpreters (NBCMI) focusing on the facilitation of medical interpreter certification as well as serving as the current IMIA Outreach Coordinator.