Alvaro Vergara-Mery, PhD, CMI is a Senior Medical Interpreter at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is in charge of interpreter education and training, language proficiency, cultural competence, translation and curriculum design. He has extensive experience as a practicing medical interpreter in a Level I Trauma center that serves a large population of Spanish-speaking patients and he is nationally recognized for his advanced level workshops for medical interpreters. He is also a a cultural and language access consultant, Bridging the Gap certified trainer, and adjunct faculty member at the University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Medicine. He was recipient of CHIA's Trainer of the Year in 2016.

Amanda Pease holds an M.A. in Translation and Interpretation from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and is a Certified Healthcare Interpreter, CHI™. She works at First Databank, Inc. as a Spanish Translator of Patient Education Monographs. She worked for Stanford Hospital and Clinics as a Spanish Medical Interpreter for five years. In addition to working full-time, she is a freelance interpreter/translator in the medical field and at the conference level. She works for the U.S. Department of State as a seminar interpreter and currently teaches in the Translation and Interpretation Certificate Program at the National Hispanic University.

Daniel Tamayo has been a translation and interpreting professional since 1993. He is the chief trainer of GlobalTradu Language Services, where he also serves as a bi-directional English-Spanish translator and conference interpreter, and as a Spanish editor and proofreader. He has extensive experience in the med-legal interpreting field. Since 2006, he is a board member and instructor at the Translation and Interpreting Program at California State University, Fullerton. Mr. Tamayo has an MA in Translation Studies from the Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and an MA in Spanish from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Elena Morrow was born and raised in Ukraine, city of Cherkassky. she majored in Russian language and literature at Ukraine's State University. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from CSU Sacramento in 1996. Elena has over 20 years of experience working as an interpreter, translator, and language skills assessor. Elena is the Manager of Medical Interpreting Services at UC Davis Health Systems, supervising a team of 42 interpreters and translators. she received her national certification in written translation from English to Russian from the American Translators Association in 2007, and in 2010 the trainer of the year award from CHIA.  

Julie Burns is a veteran interpreter trainer, Spanish interpreter and translator who provides professional trainings to prepare bilingual individuals to work as interpreters in hospital and clinic settings. She also offers continuing education workshops for professional development and stress management for interpreters.  Visit www.thecommunicationbridge.net.

Julie has over 20 years experience in the fields of health care interpreting and translating, as well as extensive experience in health care education and training both in Latin America and the U.S. She is former director of the Bridging the Gap Interpreter Training Program and has trained thousands of interpreters. Julie has served as board member and member of the Standards, Training and Certification Committee of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC), the International Medical Interpreter’s Association (IMIA) and the California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA).

Mateo Rutherford has worked as the Supervisor, Administrative Director and Project Manager at UCSF Health Interpreting Services since 2012. He was also a contract bilingual training specialist for the CDC for 5 years offering disease prevention trainings in the US, Puerto Rico and Honduras. Mateo holds a Master’s Degree in Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught Molecular and Cellular Biology Lab courses. In addition he holds a Master’s Degree in Spanish Interpretation and Translation from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He has been a freelance Spanish interpreter since 1987 working throughout Latin America, Europe, Asia and the United States and specializing in topics related to health, life sciences and technology. Mateo is a CHI™

Michelle Scott is a bilingual (Spanish) Registered Nurse and founder of Voices For Health, Inc. (est. 1997), a small business with offices in Michigan and California. In addition to the administrative tasks of growing this language agency from a local leader to a nationally recognized venture, she has experience in medical interpreting, medical translation project management, interpreter training, multilingual research projects, and film production. She has bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and Nursing and a master’s degree in Medical Anthropology, all from Michigan State University. Her professional nursing background includes supervising a migrant clinic, coordinating migrant camp outreach programs and providing maternal support services to underprivileged populations. Ms. Scott promotes professionalism in medical interpreting through leadership in language associations and conference presentations. Currently, she is working to develop video content for VoicesAcademy.com, a new virtual conference website providing instant access to self-guided continuing education for medical interpreters and translators.

Tracy Young is an interpreter trainer and long-time advocate for the profession. Tracy has presented a variety of workshops throughout California and Nevada, including Bridging the Gap and Connecting Worlds. She is both a registered nurse and an accomplished medical interpreter (CMI). Tracy is the Language Access Services coordinator at Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe, California. She holds a master’s degree in Spanish from the University of Nevada, Reno and is the founding president of the Nevada Interpreters and Translators Association (NITA).