NCIHC Language Access Champions

2023 will be announced at the NCIHC Language Access Congress, Sept. 28-29

2022 Virtual Event, 15th Annual Membership Meeting

Melinda Paras, Owner of Paras and Associates, Berkeley CA

Found in Translation, Dorchester, MA

2021 Virtual Event, 14th Annual Membership Meeting

Ira Sen Gupta, Executive Director at Cross Cultural Health Care Program, Seattle WA

2020 No Award given

2019  Philadelphia, PA 13th Annual Membership Meeting

Jorge Ungo, Language Access Advocate, Houston TX

AllCare Health, Grants Pass OR

2018  Denver, CO 12th Annual Membership Meeting

Julie Burns, Santa Rosa, CA

2017 Portland, ME 11th Annual Membership Meeting

Shari Gold-Gomez, Director of Interpreter Services,
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Boston, MA

2016 Austin, TX 10th Annual Membership Meeting

Erika Shell Castro, Director of Interpreting Services, Language Access Network (LAN)

2015 Minneapolis, MN 9th Annual Membership Meeting

Bruce T. Downing, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics / Former Director
of the Program in Translation and Interpreting, University of Minnesota
Maria-Paz Beltran Avery, PhD, Managing Project Director, Education
Development Center, Newton, MA
Tracy Young, Language Access Services Coordinator, Barton Health,
Lake Tahoe, NV  

2014 Charleston, SC 8th Annual Membership Meeting

Teresita “Terry” Cataag Bautista, Consultant and Educator; former Director of Interpreter
Services at Alameda County Medical Center
Allison Bayer, Former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Cambridge
Health Alliance
John Nickrosz, Retired, Former President of the Massachusetts Medical Interpreters
Association (MMIA)

2013 Seattle, WA 7th Annual Membership Meeting

Maria Michalczyk Branch Manager, Coram Healthcare
Milly Valverde Associate Director Language Services, Ohio State University
Victor Sosa Access Coordinator, Natividad Medical Center
Patricia Greene Director of Patient and Family Services, Southern NH Medical Center

2012 Madison, WI 6th Annual Membership Meeting

Guadalupe Pacheco Jr. Senior Health Advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Javier F. Sevilla-Mártir, MD Associate Professor of Clinical Family Medicine, Director of Hispanic/Latino Health, Global Health and International Medicine, Assistant Dean for Diversity, Indiana University School of Medicine
MassAHEC Network UMass Medical School

2011 New Orleans, LA 5th Annual Membership Meeting

Mary Rynerson Founder, Pacific Interpreters
Mara Youdelman Managing Attorney, National Health Law Program; Chair, Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI)
EthnoMed University of Washington Health Sciences Libraries and Harborview Medical Center's Interpreter Services Department/Community House Calls Program

2010 Washington DC 4th Annual Membership Meeting

Ignatius Bau Independent Health Policy Consultant

Estela McDonough Coordinator of Interpreter Services, UMass Memorial Medical Center

Kaiser Permanente - Northern California