The mission of the 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 validated certification for medical interpreters.
The CMI certification program is governed by the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters (National Board), an independent division of the International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA).
Effective 2018, the National Board is pleased to announce that each of the Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Vietnamese CMI certification programs have been brought together under the same nationally accepted standards and criteria, ensuring that the CMI credentialing in each of our program languages remains the most prestigious offered in the industry. Prior to 2018, the Spanish CMI certificate was subjected to an additional level of NCCA accreditation, but while the National Board remains a member of the Institute of Credentialing Excellence (ICE), each of the National Board programs have been standardized to ensure the CMI certification in each offered language best meets or exceeds nationally accepted standards, including transparency, inclusion, and access.
The purposes of the National Board are to:
- Develop, organize, oversee, and promote a national medical interpreter certification program in all languages.
- Promote patients and providers working with credentialed medical interpreters who have met minimal national standards to provide accurate and safe interpretation.
- Ensure credibility of national certification by striving to comply with national accreditation standards including transparency, inclusion, and access.
The Board of Directors of the National Board consists of 10-12 voting members that include medical interpreters, trainers, health care providers, industry representatives, and a public member. Initial Board members were selected by a public process and independent selection committee. Subsequently, Board Directors are recruited through a Nominating Committee process and are elected by the members of the National Board.
Directors
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.
Xiomara Armas is a BBA and NB Certified Spanish Medical Interpreter; she obtained her qualification with Georgia Department of Human Resources and Atlanta Workforce Development Agency in 2004 and started working with Cobb and Douglas county Health department, mental health and low enforcement, as well as freelance with several agencies. She's been working at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) for more than 13 years as Medical Interpreter with a deep interest in Family Education for medical conditions; she had been involved in multiple conferences, symposiums, learning days and classes for patients and families as well as Spanish recordings for Orientation videos, procedures and conditions for Hispanics patients and families, all of which earned her the 2010 CHOA Golden Apple award – Honorable Mention, for her contributions and extraordinary accomplishments in Health Education. She also has been presenting at several interpreters conferences and webinars nationally for Interpreters continuing education. At the present she's a member of the Interpreting Shared Leadership council at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
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.
Ana Arguedas (Cata) has been working in the interpretation industry since 2006. While working as a medical interpreter, she also developed the training program for non-experienced interpreters at Pacific Interpreters. She is a Certified Medical Interpreter since 2012, and also has ample experience evaluating interpreting skills and language proficiency, as well as training raters for LanguageLine Academy. Ana holds a licensure in Psychology from Universidad de Iberoamérica, in San José, Costa Rica.
Clarissa was born and raised in a monocultural society in El Salvador, Central America. She has been an interpreter for 14 years specializing in medical, community, and conference. She has completed translation course work, earning certificates from UC San Diego and TMCC. She is NBCMI certified. In the past, Clarissa worked at UC Davis Health System as a medical interpreter. She is the recipient of a merit scholarship from University of Arizona, National Center for Interpretation (NCI). At the NCI, she completed the Court Interpreting Training Institute (CITI) and medical programs. In addition, she is a U.S. State Department certified interpreter. Clarissa earned a B.A. degree in Communication Studies with emphasis on intercultural and international communication from CSU, Sacramento. Clarissa is now earning her master's in Public Policy and Administration. She has received highly specialized training at the Intercultural Development Research Institute in Milan, Italy. As part of her commitment to increase equity and inclusion, she has developed and presented intercultural effectiveness trainings statewide. She is a leader on the board of several non-profits in her community and collaborates with organizations advocating for further cultural diversity, inclusion, social justice, and equity.
Emily Dalerta is a Spanish into English medical translator and Spanish medical interpreter certified by the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters (NBCMI). She has over ten years of experience in the translation and interpreting field, has worked in all three interpreting modalities, VRI, onsite, OPI, and specializes in clinical trial documentation. In addition to serving on the NBCMI, she also currently serves as the Vice President of the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Florida (ATIF) and the Florida State Chapter Chair of the International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA). She enjoys traveling, reading, learning languages and working with local, national and international colleagues to promote and advocate for the translation and interpreting profession.
D. Matthew Bozone Is a CMI Spanish interpreter at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta(CHOA) and Grady Memorial Hospital in Georgia. He currently serves on the Joint Leadership Council for the Translation and Interpretation services department at CHOA and actively works to promote transparency, inclusion, and access within the hospital and in the community.
A graduate of Georgia State University(GSU) with an M.A. Spanish and B.A. Spanish, he earned the GSU Translation and Interpretation Program certificate (in English to Spanish and Spanish to English) while in the Master's program.
"Matt" started as an interpreter volunteer at charities like the American Red Cross and local clinics for underinsured patients. He then worked as an agency interpreter for various healthcare, mental health, and social service providers . With this diverse professional background he knows the need to continue to legitimize interpretation by fomenting credentialing, professionalism, and advocacy among his fellow interpreters, let alone the healthcare system at large.
Ingrid is originally from the land of the Mayans. When she was little she learned to speak Kaqchikel. She always loved languages. Ingrid is a mother of three wonderful kids. She has been an interpreter for the state of Utah during the last 14 years, serving her community as a court, community and medical interpreter. She teaches Bridging the Gap and Community Interpreting as well as Cultural Competence. She is part of the team of language coordinators for the IHC-Utah Central Region. She is a member of NAJIT, IMIA, CHIA, NATI, UTIA and Guatemaltecos Unidos en Utah. She has been serving as president of UTIA since January of 2014.
Staff
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Casita Wild, MS
Operations Manager
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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.
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Beverly North, MS
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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.
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Marissa Gearhart
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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.
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.
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