The National Board

Board Members | Founders | Mission | Purpose | Governance | Biographies

Board Members

	Rita Weil, Ph.D. CHAIR Medical Interpreter and Educator, PA		Giovanna L. Lester, C.T. VICE CHAIR President, Association of Translators and Interpreters of Florida
	Karina Craig TREASURER Interpreter and Manager of Interpreter Bank at CIIC, CO		Rose Long SECRETARY Interpreter and Translator, WA
	Ricardo Diaz-Canedo, MD., CMI-Spanish Physician, CA		Janet Erickson-Johnson, MA, CMI-Spanish Certification Manager, Language Line Services, CA
	Eric Hardt, MD Physician, Boston Medical Center, MA		Bruce Merley Vice-President of Sales and Marketing, Pacific Interpreters, NY
	Tina Peña Associate Professor of Spanish, Medical Interpreter Trainer at Tulsa Community College, OK		Inna Persits-Gimelberg, MS, Med Interpreter, trainer and educator, MA
	Rep. Seneca Scott (D) Oklahoma Legislator, Advisor, Health Care Workforce Resources Board, Tulsa, OK		Alvaro Vergara-Mery, Ph.D., CMI-Spanish Acting Manager and Staff Interpreter, University Medical Center of Southern Nevada
	Linda Joyce, MS, CMI-Spanish EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Healthcare Interpreter, WV

Founders

International Medical Interpreter Association (IMIA) - Founded in 1986, with over 2,000 members, is a US-based nonprofit organization representing medical interpreters worldwide.

Language Line® University (LLU) - Is the globally recognized interpreter testing, training and certification division of Language Line Services, the worlds founder and largest over the phone, video and on-site interpreter provider.

Mission

The mission of the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters (National Board) is to foster improved healthcare outcomes, patient safety and patient/provider communication, by elevating the standards for and quality of medical interpreting through a nationally recognized and accredited certification for medical interpreters.

Purpose

• To develop, organize, oversee and promote a national medical interpreter certification program in all languages.
• To promote patients and providers working with credentialed medical interpreters who have met minimal national standards to provide accurate and safe interpretation.
• To ensure credibility of national certification by striving to comply with national accreditation standards including transparency, inclusion, and access.

Governance

The National Board is established as an independent special division of the International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA), to oversee the national medical interpreter certification program. The National Board is solely responsible for all policies and procedures and decisions related to establishing, reviewing and maintaining: certification eligibility, recertification requirements, examinations and other assessment instruments, budget development and fees, program planning, document and information retention, selection and supervision of qualified personnel, and resource allocation. The National Board has 501c3 public charity status, the non-profit status that ensures activities are for the public good.

To ensure the ongoing validity and reliability of the testing instruments, the National Board will develop, maintain and administer the certification examinations in accordance with nationally recognized testing standards such as the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education) and the NCCA Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs (Institute for Credentialing Excellence).

Biographies

 
Rita Weil, Ph.D., CHAIR

Rita Weil is a professional medical and community interpreter and interpreter trainer for Bridging the Gap. She has ten years experience as a Spanish interpreter working first in the Washington, DC area and presently in Philadelphia, PA. She is most interested in the advancement of the medical interpreting field and the development of highly trained professional interpreters. Rita was a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia and a Crisis Corps volunteer in Honduras. She also lived in Venezuela for 9 years. Prior to becoming an interpreter she was a supervisor of the FLEX (Foreign Language Experience Program), an after school foreign language program for elementary school children in Fairfax County, VA. Public Schools, responsible for 42 schools. Rita holds advanced degrees: Masters in Education, Masters in Adult Education and Ph.D. in counseling and student development.

Giovanna Lester, C.T., VICE-CHAIR

Giovanna Lester has worked in the translation and interpreting fields since 1980. Originally from Bahia, Brazil, she has lived in the US since 1985. Gio has always been very active in her profession having served the American Translators Association as Assistant Administrator and Administrator of the Interpreters Division; PR Committee, President of ATA Florida Chapter (now defunct), developed and implemented the ATA/Red Cross Partnership Program. In 2009 she co-founded and now serves as elected President of the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Florida (ATIF). Gio is also active leading workshops and presentations. In the private sector, Gio has worked as a teacher of both English and Portuguese, worked in the banking industry and in marketing, experiences that helped shape and strengthen her professional skills.

Karina Craig, TREASURER

Karina Craig was born and raised in Argentina where she received a bi-lingual (Spanish-German) education, and also learned English. She holds a degree in Biological Sciences from Universidad Nacional del Comahue, in Patagonia, Argentina. Karina has been involved in the language field since her college days back in the early nineties until the present day as a teacher, translator and interpreter. She was an English teacher in Argentina, and a Spanish teacher in the US, at CMC in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. She is currently very active in the medical and legal interpretation fields. Karina is the Manager of the Interpreter Bank at CIIC, Comunidad Integrada Integrated Community, a non-profit organization serving the Routt and Moffat counties in Northwest Colorado. As a program manager, Karina is involved both with the development of English and Spanish language assessment tests and continuing interpreter training, as well as cultural competency training. She is also a staff medical interpreter at YW Medical Center in Steamboat Springs, CO.

Rose Long, SECRETARY

Rose Long is a medical interpreter and translator. She has worked in various aspects of health care such as community health education, cultural competency training, curriculum development, training of trainers and medical interpreters, environmental justice training and has managed and implemented different community based participatory research activities. She is proud of her work in the community which gives her a very unique perspective in working with people of different ethnicities and languages which is essential in working in the field of culturally and linguistically appropriate services. Rose was formerly the Director of the Bridging the Gap Medical Interpreter training program for Cross Cultural Health Care Program. Rose’s efforts in the field of Medical Interpreter training and Training of Trainers program has resulted in a significant increase in the growth of trained medical interpreters and trainers of Interpreter training program. Rose shares her time and expertise volunteering for the Filipino Community of the greater Northwest, Pacific Asian Empowerment Program, and Elizabeth House Senior Housing. She is the immediate past Treasurer of the International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA) and now is its Director for Social Media.

Ricardo Diaz-Canedo, MD, CMI-Spanish

Dr. Diaz-Canedo is a physician who has had dual careers as medical doctor and medical interpreter and translator, and as such, has in-depth knowledge of the needs of both professions.  Dr. Diaz-Canedo was born in Arequipa, Peru, and moved to the U.S. where he graduated from the University of California, San Diego obtaining his Bachelor’s Degree in Biology.  He subsequently began his language career as staff medical interpreter for U.C. San Diego Medical Center.  While working as a medical interpreter he continued to pursue his career goals in medicine and obtained a Post-Baccaulareate Degree from the University of California at Irvine and a Medical Doctorate Degree from the University of California Irvine, School of Medicine.  
Dr. Diaz-Canedo’s medical interpreting career has involved all aspects of medical interpreting and translation, including staff medical interpreter, telephonic interpreter, as well as simultaneous conference interpreting at scientific conferences. Dr. Diaz-Canedo has worked as senior language consultant, medical editor, and clinical review specialist for many interpreting companies due to his experience in language interpreting and his training as a medical doctor.  Dr. Diaz-Canedo is co-author and medical editor of Language Line University’s Advanced Medical Training Manual, the text used to train medical interpreters throughout the country.  Dr. Diaz-Canedo worked as a Subject Matter Expert to write and develop many aspects of the National Board of Medical Interpreters Certification exam.  Currently, Dr. Diaz-Canedo continues to pursue his career in medicine.

Janet Erickson-Johnson, M.A., CMI-Spanish

Janet Erickson-Johnson, the Certification Manager for Language Line Services and Director of Interpreter Certification for Language Line University, has overseen the development and administration of certification testing since 2000, as well as language proficiency and interpreter skills assessments through Language Line University since 2002.  She has also played a lead role in the development of basic interpreter training and Medical Interpreter Training, which she has delivered in the U.S. and abroad.  She holds a Masters’ Degree in Translation and Interpretation from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, where she taught Medical Interpreting, completed a Medical Interpreting Internship at Stanford University Hospital, and worked as a professional free-lance interpreter for 10 years prior to Language Line Services. In addition to being a presenter on various topics of interest to the profession at many professional interpreter conferences over the years, Janet was also an integral part of the Test Design Team that developed the National Medical Interpreter Certification Test in 2009.  

Eric Hardt, MD

Dr. Eric Hardt is Associate Professor of Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine. He is the Medical Director of the Home Care program of the Geriatrics Section of the Department of Medicine at the Boston Medical Center. He obtained his B.A. from Yale University in 1970 and M.D. from Tufts Medical School (Boston, MA) in 1974. Prior to coming to Boston in 1984, Dr. Hardt worked at the Harlem Hospital Medical Center, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care Medicine. He remains very active clinically in a variety of inpatient and outpatient sites and currently follows a diverse group of elderly patients in their homes and at the Geriatrics Clinic at BMC. He is an active educator of medical students, house staff, fellows, and interdisciplinary medical staff on clinical issues in geriatrics, home care, cross-cultural medicine, and language barriers.

Dr. Hardt’s activities in the area of non-English-speaking patients and medical interpretation are well known around the country. He has been the prime mover behind the production of videotape educational materials for medical interpreters and for health care workers working across language barriers (The Bilingual Medical Interview; The Bilingual Medical Interview II: The Geriatric Patient; “Put Your Feet in Water” Haitians, Health Care and AIDS). Dr. Hardt has authored and co-authored book chapters and articles on medical interpretation, the bilingual medical interview, cultural factors in the medical interview, and related areas. He has published on issues of exclusion of non-English-speakers from medical research, on issues involving costs and outcomes related to the use of medical interpreters in the ED, and on inadequate medical interpretation as a cause of medical errors.

Dr. Hardt is a founding member of the International [formerly Massachusetts] Medical Interpreters Association and currently on their Advisory Board. He is also a founding member of the National Council on Interpretation in Health Care, has served on its Executive Board, and has co-chaired its Policy and Research Committee. Dr. Hardt has worked with the Badel III Coalition and the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants advocating for legislation related to interpreter services for the State of Massachusetts. He is regularly invited to speak on the issues related to non-English-speaking patients and regularly consults on educational and program development and research methodology related to language barriers and interpreter services. For over twenty years he has served as Medical Consultant to Interpreter Services at BMC.

Bruce Merley

With an educational background in music and electrical engineering, Bruce Merley spent most of his early career working in the arts and entertainment industries: First producing performing arts programs at Yale University and at the Fine Arts Museums in San Francisco, later as President and general manager of a large music recording studio business in New York City.  For nearly a decade he ran his own consulting business providing management and marketing consulting services for production companies and manufacturers of professional audio and video equipment.  As a result of his successful marketing services, in 1998 he was invited to joint the sales staff of AMS Neve, a British manufacturer of broadcast and film production audio equipment.  There he sold multi-million dollar contracts to firms like PBS, Universal Pictures and the World Wrestling Federation; to recording studios; and to artists such as Gloria Estefan and the Bee Gees.

Following some pioneering efforts in building wide-area video networks for retailers (Footlocker, Macy’s, Foxwoods) airports and municipal governments, Merley was offered a startlingly different opportunity: He was asked to consider working in the world of healthcare interpreting.
At Mary Rynerson’s invitation, Merley joined the staff of Pacific Interpreters in 2003 as Eastern Region Manager where he began from scratch, learning about interpreting, healthcare and OPI in particular.   In 2007 he was appointed Vice President of Sales and Marketing.  In his six year tenure with the company he has contributed to Pacific Interpreters’ five-fold growth. 

Embarrassingly nearly mono-lingual, Merley nevertheless admits having discovered a passion for languages, culture and the power of language communication to facilitate health and healing.  After a long career in arts, entertainment and industry, he is both astonished and delighted to have found such a wonderful home working with his brilliant and caring interpreter colleagues.   Merley lives in Sea Cliff, NY, a small village on the north shore of Long Island, with his wife, Linda Holgers and two cats. 

Tina Peña

Tina Peña, from Lima, Peru is an Associate Professor of Spanish, coordinator of Spanish programs and a Medical Interpreter Trainer at Tulsa Community College. Tina is a host of Temas en Tulsa, a television program produced in Spanish that covers current events and topics of importance to Spanish speaking viewers. A TCC faculty member since 1992, Peña has pioneered the use of interactive television and distance learning to teach Spanish at TCC and has taught on the international campus, study abroad trips to Latin America and Spain. She is the coordinator of the Spanish Interpreting and the Spanish Service Learning Programs. Peña is the Oklahoma State Chapter Chair of the IMIA, a member of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, United Nations of Eastern Oklahoma, Governor’s Task Force for the Advancement of Hispanic Students in Higher Education, Oklahoma Latinos Presentes en el Centenario, ACLU, and the 2007 Pinnacle Award Winner.

Inna Persits-Gimelberg, MS, M.Ed.

Inna Persits-Gimelberg is a former teacher from Belarus in the former Soviet Union and has always had a passion for languages. Coming to the US more than twenty years ago allowed her to realize her dream of becoming an interpreter. Inna began her career interpreting in Italy, helping mental health professionals communicate with their patients who were refugees. After arriving in the US, Inna taught Russian at the Boston Language Institute and interpreted at Harvard Community Health Plan. She later became one of the first interpreter supervisors at the Kenmore Center. While working at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, Inna received her Master’s in Health Care Administration. Inna moved on to become Director of Community Interpreter Services at Catholic Charities, where she trained and supervised interpreters. Inna teaches the Community Interpreter course at Boston University. In addition, Inna develops new programs for interpreters in the field. She serves on the Test Administration Committee of the National Board for Certification of Medical Interpreters, where she helps design policy and procedures that will be used to professionalize the role of medical interpreters. Inna also serves on the conference committee of the Multicultural Coalition on Aging.

Rep. Seneca Scott (D)

Rep. Seneca Scott (D) serves District 72. A fifth generation Oklahoman, Seneca Scott resides in North Tulsa.  He is active in the Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government & Transportation; Government Modernization, Transparency & Accountability; Human Services; and Rules. Mr. Scott also occupies positions in the Human Services Committee, House Democratic Advisor Health Care Workforce Resources Board, is a Board Member, Oklahoma Catastrophic Health Emergency Planning Task Force, Joint Special Committee on International Development, Joint Legislative Task Force on the Grand River Dam Authority and various standing committees.

He is a member of the following organizations: Oklahoma Sustainability Network - Board of Directors Springdale Economic Development Council - Board of Directors Kendall-Whittier Task Force - Board of Directors Turley Community Association - Board of Directors OU Specialty Clinic - Advisory Board Kendall-Whittier Beautification Committee - Member Kendall-Whittier Neighborhood Association - Member North Tulsa Rotary Club - Member Oklahoma Academy for State Goals - Member Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry's Committee against Racism - Member Young Professionals of the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce - Member City of Tulsa's Sales Tax Oversight Committee –and Member Choctaw Nation. Rep Scott "is passionate about access to quality health care and working to ensure that immigration measures are balanced and fair for an inclusive American society."

Alvaro Vergara-Mery, Ph.D., CMI-Spanish

Prof. Alvaro Vergara-Mery is the acting manager and staff certified medical interpreter at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. His background in education, Spanish and his extensive experience as medical interpreter have allowed him to design, develop, train and teach several classes focusing on medical interpreting and translation. As a faculty member with experience in Spanish Proficiency Testing he also conducts testing for bilingual hospital staff at his hospital. He is also a faculty member at MITIO (Medical Interpreting and Translating Institute Online) and IMIA's Senior Medical Interpreter Trainer. Dr. Vergara-Mery is very active in attending and presenting at conferences, panels and presentation nationally and internationally. He is also the IMIA Nevada Chapter Chair and Vice-President of NITA (Nevada interpreters and Translators Association).

Dr. Vergara-Mery’s BA (English and Education) is from Universidad de La Serena, Chile. His MA in Education and Spanish is from Minnesota State University at Mankato and his Ph.D. in Spanish with a minor in Humanities is from Arizona State University. He was a faculty member at Arizona State University, Western Kentucky University, and the Kentucky Institute for International Studies before embracing the medical interpreting and translating career.

Linda Joyce, MS, CMI-Spanish, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Linda Joyce  is a Language Access Specialist and a telephone and conference interpreter. Linda presents workshops nationally and internationally on various aspects of best practices for providing competent language access. She is the IMIA West Virginia State Chapter Chair and served on the IMIA Board of Directors in 2010 and 2011. She is a member of the American Translators Association and the National Council on Interpreting in Healthcare.  Linda was the former Director of Language Interpretive Services at Grady Health System in Atlanta, Georgia and has worked for 25 years as an interpreter, trainer and educator; has lived and worked in Spain, Brazil, and Portugal and speaks Spanish and Portuguese. She is an advocate for the continuing development of the medical interpreting profession and is passionate about issues related to equal access to healthcare. Linda lives on a farm in Walton, West Virginia.