Board of Directors

Joy Connell has over 25 years of public sector experience working with multicultural populations at the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health where she is currently Civil Rights/Diversity Officer. Her extensive work with community-based organizations has focused on refugees and immigrants, while her training activities have encompassed issues of traditional minority groups as well as those of newcomers. She has consulted and/or presented to a wide array of human service providers in federal, state and private systems on a wide range of topics including ethnic-specific mental health needs, language access issues, and workplace diversity concerns. She was selected to be a trainer for the Multicultural Issues, Diversity Studies and Training (MIDST) program of the Boston University School of Social Work, and is certified as a Senior Trainer of Brandeis University's Diversity Curriculum produced for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She is a former Board member of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition, and is the former President of the Massachusetts Medical Interpreters Association (MMIA).

Enrica J. Ardemagni, PhD

Professor of Spanish

Director, Certificate in Translation Studies

Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

Department of World Languages & Cultures
425 University Blvd.
Indianapolis, IN 46202
Tel: (317) 274-8957

Fax: (317) 278-7375
eardemagni@ncihc.org

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Enrica J. Ardemagni is Professor of Spanish and Director of the Certificate in Translation Studies in the Department of World Languages & Cultures at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. She teaches translation studies, interpreting, Business, Legal and Medical Spanish. Professor Ardemagni is an adjunct professor in the Indiana University School of Medicine Department of Family Medicine where she teaches Spanish in the bilingual Introduction to Clinical Medicine course and How to Use Interpreters for fourth year medical students in clinical rotations. She has received fifteen prestigious teaching awards. Professor Ardemagni is frequently invited to give workshops on translation, interpreting, cultural competency, health literacy and diversity issues in legal and healthcare interpreting. She holds undergraduate and graduate certificates in Medical Interpreting and she is an Indiana State Certified Court Interpreter. She was one of the founding members of the Midwest Association of Translators and Interpreters (MATI), a Chapter of the American Translators Association (ATA) and served as president of the MATI board 2006-2008 and 2010-present. Professor Ardemagni served as the Administrative Chair of the American Translators Association Literary Division from 2006-2010. She joined NCIHC in 2003 as a committee member on the Organizational Development Committee, served as Co-Chair of the Organizational Development committee from 2006-2009, Co-Chair of the Board from 2009-2011 and and is currently Vice President of the NCIHC board. She holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Lisa Morris

Cross Cultural Initatives

UMASS Medical School/OCP

333 South Street

Shrewsbury, MA 01545

Fax: (508)856-4850

lmorris@ncihc.org

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Ms. Morris is responsible for coordination and delivery of the Medical Interpreter Training Program disseminated throughout Massachusetts for bilingual/bicultural staff at MassHealth provider sites. In addition, she established a translation bureau to provide culturally responsive and sensitive written materials. Responsibilities also include development of policy and procedure recommendations and revisions of assessment tools and curriculum.

Ms Morris works as an Adjunct Faculty member at two state community colleges training medical interpreters. She has worked as a telephonic interpreter since 1994. She has been a medical interpreter since 1985.

She earned a Masters in Training and Development from Lesley College. She received her BA in Romance Languages from Boston College. Most recently she completed a fellowship in Cultural Competence Leadership with HRET in partnership with the American Hospital Association.

Jorge U. Ungo

Account Manager

Recyclebank

Houston, Texas

jungo@ncihc.org

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Jorge U. Ungo has served as a volunteer for NCIHC since 2004. Jorge began in the Membership Committee and later served as Chair of the Finance Committee where he took an active role on the Executive Committee. Jorge has been leading the National Council's social media strategy since. Today, Jorge serves as board liaison to the Outreach Committee and is a member of the website committee. In addition to his work with NCIHC, Jorge Ungo is the former President of the Texas Association of Healthcare Interpreters and Translators (TAHIT) and was the founding assistant administrator of the American Translators Association Medical Division (ATA-MD). Jorge is a regional Account Manager for Recyclebank - a program that rewards people for everyday green actions.

Wilma Alvarado-Little, MA
Director, Community Engagement/Outreach
Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities
University at Albany, SUNY

AS 236
1400 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12222
Tel: (518) 442-5976

Fax: (518) 442-4563

walvaradolittle@ncihc.org

Wilma Alvarado-Little received a grant from the National Institutes of Health in May 2009 as part of an award to the University's Center for Elimination of Minority Health Disparities, to support research to identify access and barriers to health care for populations in smaller cities and currently is the Director of Community Engagement/Outreach. She is a medical interpreter, trainer and language access advocate with over 25 years of experience in the healthcare field. Ms. Alvarado-Little has provided guidance for the implementation of hospital and clinic based language access programs and educates healthcare institutions on the importance of language access services. She serves on the Board of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care and is the Chair of the NCIHC Policy and Research Committee. She is a member of the National Project Advisory Committee for the Review of the CLAS Standards, HHS Office of Minority Health, the Institute of Medicine Health Literacy Roundtable, New York State Office of Mental Health Multicultural Advisory Committee and also serves on boards at the state and local levels.

She has a Master of Arts degree in Social Work, a Masters of Arts in Spanish Literature and Bachelor Degrees in Spanish and Psychology.

Charles C. (Mike) Anderson

manderson@ncihc.org

Mike has been involved with and member of the Council since 1999 and served as chair of the Policy and Research Committee. Mike also authored “Linguistically Appropriate Access and Services; An Evaluation and Review for Healthcare Organizations” sponsored by the Council. In addition, Mike developed and directed the interpreter program for Kaiser Permanente in the NW beginning in 1997. He currently teaches the introduction to Healthcare Interpreting at Portland Community College and Health Care Management at the University of Phoenix.

Sasha Federiuk Carrillo, CHI, CMI
Manager of Training Programs, Metaphrasis Language & Cultural Solutions, LLC.

1147 W. Ohio St., Suite 306

Chicago, IL 60642

Tel: (815) 464-1423

Fax: (312) 243-2026
scarrillo@ncihc.org

Sasha serves as both a Board Director and Vice-Chair of the Event Planning Committee. As an interpreter who highly values her professional development, Sasha was among the first group of individuals to receive national CERTIFIED HEALTHCARE INTERPRETER™ certification through the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI-Spanish) as well as Certified Medical Interpreter (CMI-Spanish) certification through the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters.

With a genuine desire to share her knowledge of the health care interpreting profession with others, Sasha began working as Manager of Training Programs at Metaphrasis Language & Cultural Solutions. Within her scope of work at Metaphrasis, she actively plans and implements professional development events for experienced interpreters, as well as an 88-hour medical interpreter training for bilingual individuals who wish to become skilled medical interpreters. Sasha enjoys watching international films, attending community events, and continually learning about other cultures by traveling as often as she is able.

Elizabeth (Liz) Essary

Supervisor

Language Services Department

Indiana University Health

Indianapolis, IN

lessary@ncihc.org

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Liz graduated from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in 2003 with a B.A. in Spanish, and spent her junior year at the University of Costa Rica. She has worked as a Spanish interpreter since 2002, and has been teaching Briding the Gap since 2009. She currently works at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis, where she supervises the Language Services Department. In her current role as Supervisor, she has worked extensively to improve language access, has developed a bilingual staff evaluation process, and is actively working on improving the patient experience for all LEP patients. Liz received her national CERTIFIED HEALTHCARE INTERPRETER™ certification in 2012.

Alina Ferrer

Beebe Medical Center
Lewes, Delaware
Tel: 302-645-3190

aferrer@ncihc.org

Alina currently works as a Spanish Medical Interpreter at Beebe Medical Center in Lewes, DE which is a small beach town community. Her health care experience spans nearly two decades, having earned a Masters in Social Work degree in 1992, and working as an oncology social worker and with a hospice organization. In 2003, she made a career change, and became the Spanish interpreter at Beebe. To prepare for this new career, Alina completed the 40 hour Bridging the Gap then later the additional 16 hour training program. In addition, she joined the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care. As the only interpreter at Beebe Medical Center, Alina is responsible for overseeing the translation of documents and coordinating interpreter services for the deaf/hard of hearing community. She also provides staff training on the barriers to providing health care to the local, Hispanic community. She is a past board member of an immigrant women’s shelter for victims of domestic violence and past board member of a GED program in Spanish, both community based services.

Dijana Rizvanovic

Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning

Interpreter Network of Colorado

1610 Emerson Street

Denver, CO 80218

Tel: (303) 831-4151

drizvanovic@ncihc.org

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Dijana manages the Interpreter Network of Colorado (INoC), which is part of the Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning in Denver, CO. She has been providing interpretation and translation services since 1995, and has been a Bridging the Gap trainer for medical interpreters across the state of Colorado since 2001. One of Dijana's responsibilities includes teaching a class for healthcare providers about how to effectively work with trained interpreters. She also provides intercultural and diversity trainings at the Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning. Dijana started her career in refugee resettlement at the International Rescue Committee in Tucson, AZ, then moved to Colorado in early 1999, where she continued her work with refugee, asylum seekers, and immigrant populations at the Lutheran Refugee and Asylum Programs of Colorado. Dijana has been an NCIHC Membership Committee member since April 2009. Currently she serves as Chair of the Event Planning Committee. She is from Bosnia and migrated to the U.S. in 1993. Dijana has a background in journalism, and has a passion for writing.

Anna Stieg

astieg@ncihc.org

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As a first generation immigrant from Germany, Anna offers a unique view on the experience of second language acquisition and her personal experience provides insight into daily interpreting activities. The two years she spent studying abroad – first in Seville, Spain in high school and then in Aix-en-Provence, France in college – reaffirmed her strong position on supporting the rights of all LEP patients. Anna received her B.A. from the UW-Madison in 2009, with a double major in Political Science and International Studies, with certificates in European Studies and African Studies. After that, she successfully completed the Language Interpreter for Health Services Program, an 11 month interpreting program at Madison College, which included an 80 hour interpreting practicum at a local clinic under the supervision of staff medical interpreters. In March of 2011 she passed the Dane County Medical Interpreter Coalition Spanish Language Assessment, the necessary regional requirement at the time to interpret in Dane county. Around the same time she also passed the assessment for Pacific Interpreters. In August of 2011 she was hired by Dean Clinic as a staff interpreter, where she is currently employed. Through Dean she has been able to explore Video Remote Interpreting (VRI), which she does in conjunction to Face-to-Face interpreting on a daily basis. She enjoys being a member of the interpreting community at Dean Clinic in Madison, Wisconsin.

Amy Wilson-Stronks

awilson-stronks@ncihc.org

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Amy has been active with the National Council for the past 8 plus years. Over the last several years she has served as an active member of the Advisory Committee of the National Council. Her background in healthcare policy, standards, accreditation, research, and advocating for improved communication in language access lends itself well to the Council and helping the Council realize its vision. Additionally, she brings a unique perspective as someone who has studied, created standards, and conducted research in the areas of language access and the broader area of patient-centered communication. Her current work as an advocate for patient-centered care and as a consultant working with healthcare organizations also enables her to identify areas for which the Council may have an important impact through education, outreach, and technical assistance.

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