Lola Bendana appointed President of IMIA
Our Director, Lola Bendana was appointed by the Board as President of the International Medical Interpreters Association – IMIA effective January 1, 2011.
International Medical Interpreters Association Announces new Leadership for 2011
Toronto, Canada December 14, 2010 – Today the International Medical Interpreters Association announced that Lola Bendana was appointed by the Board as President of the IMIA effective January 1, 2011. Lola Bendan a has over 20 years of progressive experience within the language services field with a strong focus on driving results. Lola has a degree in international relations with a specialization in Latin American Studies and English-Spanish interpreting and translation. She worked in Costa Rica as a cultural/foreign affairs facilitator with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as head of international relations with the Nicaraguan Committee for Refugees. After immigrating to Canada, she worked as a freelancer for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada offering pre-departure and intercultural effectiveness courses on Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
Lola has been involved in the translation and interpreting field for over 20 years; and since 1997, she has been the Director of Multi-Languages Corporation. In the past, she served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Healthcare Interpretation Network in Canada where she chaired the Policy and Terminology Committee; she was also a member of the Critical Link Canada Standards of Practice and Training Committee, she was selected as a voting member of the technical Committee of the Canadian General Standards Board that created the Canadian national translation service standards CAN CGSB 131.10-2008. Presently, she serves on the board of the Language Industry Association – AILIA, is the Chair of the AILIA Communications Committee, Vice-Chair of the Association and member of the Translation Committee. She is also a member of the Healthcare Interpretation Network’s Policy Committee and Multilingual Database Terminology Committee, the Canadian Advisory Committee to ISO TC37 and has been Canada’s representative of the International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA). Lola has served on the IMIA Executive Board and now takes the lead. Contact: lbendana@imiaweb.org
“Canada is a leader in community interpreting and is key to IMIA’s international growth strategy and with Lola Bendana’s knowledge and experience in place, we are well positioned for the future,” said Izabel Arocha, M.Ed., CMI, current President of IMIA. “Her record in international collaborative projects made her the right choice. She will bring a new perspective to an organization that has been US-centric in the past.” “Under Lola’s leadership, the IMIA will continue to deliver excellent results through a professional volunteer team of Directors, Chairpersons, and both National and International Representatives, delivering greatly needed solutions for our ongoing interpreters’ issues,” said Anita Coelho Diabate, IMIA Vice President.
The Executive Board unanimously voted for its officers’ slate and the following individuals are serving another term as officers: Anita Coelho Diabate, Cambridge Health Alliance, as IMIA Vice President, Rose Long, Cross Cultural Health Care Program, as IMIA Treasurer, and Juana Horton, CEO of Horton Interpreting Services, as IMIA Secretary. Izabel Arocha will assist the organization as its first Executive Director.
Other important new additions to the IMIA Executive Board directors include Eric Candle, Medical Interpreter and Trainer and IMIA New York State Representative, Iliana Rivera, Language Program Coordinator for Washington Regional for just over 5 years, in Springdale, Arkansas, and Maurizio Di Fresco, International Patient Services, Coordinator ISMETT – UPMC Italy. “We have an outstanding leadership team for the term starting in 2011, our 25th anniversary year. We have a lot to celebrate,” said Juana Horton, IMIA Board Secretary.
About the International Medical Interpreters Association
It is an umbrella association that promotes all standards and best practices in the field of medical interpreting. As an international trade association of medical interpreters, it represents practicing medical interpreters as the ultimate experts in medical interpreting. It is also the only national trade association of medical interpreters in the US, and is an official active member of FIT, the Federation of Interpreters and Translators, an international organization comprised of trade associations of interpreters and translators worldwide. It is a partner member of AILIA, the Languages Industry Association headquartered in Canada. IMIA developed the first code of ethics, standards, annual conference, and certification for medical interpreters and continues to be a pioneer in the field with its recent work to develop the first Interpreter Educators Code of Ethics and National Education Registry. It’s most current work involves developing an accreditation for medical interpreter training program. (www.imiaweb.org)