Meet the OHCIA Team
We could not make our impact without the faithful support of volunteer board members, instructors, and community members.
CARLOS NUÑEZ
Role: President
Carlos Nuñez grew up in Mexico and studied General Business at Eastern Michigan University. He returned to Oregon in 2015 to work as an independent contractor in the interpretation business and to assist in the family business.
He is a court-certified Spanish interpreter and a certified medical interpreter. The highlight of his interpreting career has been interpreting for Governor Kate Brown during her ongoing press conferences.
Carlos enjoys working with nonprofits the most, particularly with organizations working on environmental issues and social justice issues.
In his spare time Carlos enjoys Vipassana meditation, running, snowboarding, CrossFit, spending time with his family volunteering and traveling with his fiancée.
MARIA MICHALCZYK, MA, RN
Roles: President Emeritus, Secretary
Maria Michalczyk RN, MA, has worked as a healthcare professional for over 50 years in a variety of nursing and administrative roles and has been a strong advocate for language access for well over three decades. Ms. Michalczyk founded and directed the Healthcare Interpreter Training Program at Portland Community College from 1998-2011, and developed and managed the Medical Interpreter Program at Oregon Health Sciences University from 1992-2001.
Highlight of Volunteer positions
ASTM National workgroup F 2089 – 01, major contributor for SB 790 that became law in 2001 to certify Oregon healthcare interpreters; Board of Directors (a founding member) of the National Council on Interpretation in Health Care (NCIHC) 2001-2012, 2020-2023; chaired the Governor’s Council on Healthcare Interpreting in Oregon 2001-2009; member of the Oregon Council on Health Care Interpreters (OCHCI) 2022-present; Oregon Health Vice President for the National Hispanic Nursing Association from 2009-2011; treasurer Oregon Latino Health Coalition from 2008-2010; Commissioner (a founding member) for the Certification Commission on Health Care Interpreting (CCHI) 2008-2011; Healthcare Interpreter Training Director for the Oregon Health Interpreter Association (OHCIA) 2013-2016; OHCIA Treasurer 2017-2020, OHCIA Interim President 2019-2020, President 2020-2022, President Emeritus 2022-present, Board Secretary 2024-present, Co-Chair for the NCIHC AMM and Conference workgroup 2021-2023, Billie Irene Odegaard Fund Board of Directors 2023-present.
Recognitions: “Governor John Kitzhaber Public Health Leadership Award” in 2006. Language Access Award from the National Council on Healthcare Interpreting 2013; the Oregon Health Authority Language Access Champion 2013; the Sister of Blandine of the Holy Angels from Providence Health and Services; Oregon Health Care Interpreters Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 and Oregon Health Care Interpreters Association Language Access Champion award in 2023.
RAQUEL LOSADA, MD, MBA, MS
Role: Vice President
With a background in emergency medicine, health care management, and training development in Colombia, Raquel brings a wealth of multicultural, medical, and organizational expertise to the OHCIA. She is currently working as a Spanish health care interpreter in order to gain first hand experience and develop meaningful and realistic training programs for both interpreters and health care providers. She is also working as an Insurance Broker with a insurance License in Health, Life and Property & Casualty. Raquel will be focusing her efforts on coordinating and developing projects for the OHCIA's Pacific Northwest Interpreter Hub.
CYNTHIA ANDERSON
Role: Board Member
Cynthia Anderson, CI, CT, NAD III, CoreCHI™, OCHI is a nationally certified ASL interpreter.
Cynthia has a Masters of Arts in Healthcare Interpreting for American Sign Language and undergraduate degrees in psychology and Special Education. She is the founder and director of National Interpreting Service, Inc. which provides healthcare interpreters in medical settings. She has spent more than 25 years advocating for language access for Deaf individuals in Oregon specifically for hospitals and healthcare entities.
As a strong supporter of both the Deaf and interpreting communities, Cynthia also provides interpreter training for interpreters seeking Oregon healthcare certification. Cynthia looks forward to working as a board member and collaborating with the stakeholders in this industry.
KERRY GRINDELAND, MN, BSN, RN
Role: Treasurer
Kerry has over 45 years in the health care industry, the last 35 as an RN. She has over 20 years in nursing management before recently retiring from Kaiser Permanente. She was responsible for developing and implementing the in-house interpreting department at Shriner’s Hospital for Children in Portland. She is excited to be part of this team to help grow and develop the profession of Health Care Interpreters.
JACQUELINE LEE
Role: Board member
Jacqueline Lee raised in Portland, OR and studied International Business and Management at Portland State University. She grew up as a child interpreter and began her LSP career in 2011starting from Cantonese-Chinese interpreter position. She served numerous position (including Director of Operations) at Linguava Interpreters over her 9 years of time there.
Jacqueline has a passion for the language services industry with personal experience growing up first hand in an immigrant household. She currently serves as a Program Manager for WeLocalize leading a team in localization services within the tech industry.
In her personal time, Jacqueline enjoyed spending time with her family, working out and traveling while trying new foods.
DORIANA MCGRAW
Role: Board Member
Doriana McGraw is the Director of Interpreter Services at Certified Languages International, a leading language service provider specializing in on-demand interpreting services. Under Doriana’s leadership and direction, the Interpreter Services Department has grown to be one of the largest in the company. She currently oversees interpreter recruiting, quality assurance, language assessment, and interpreter communications.
Born in in Cluj, Romania, Doriana is fluent in Romanian and has firsthand experience helping her parents navigate the healthcare system as people who are limited English proficient. This, along with her 20 years of experience in the language services industry, has shaped her views on the important role of interpreters. Doriana holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Washington State University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude.
JORDAN KENNY, M.S., NIC, CORECHI, OCHI
Role: Board Member
Jordan Kenny (he/him) has been a professional American Sign Language interpreter for over 12 years. His work experience is a culmination of 6 years in educational interpreting alongside 10+ years in healthcare settings, performing arts, mental health, VRS, and more. Currently, Jordan holds a National Interpreter Certification (NIC), Oregon Certified Health Care Interpreter (OCHI) certification, received national credentials for healthcare interpreting (CoreCHI), and continues to pursue professional development opportunities when possible. He currently works as the Director of Operations for National Interpreting Service, Inc. and is the active Vice President for the Oregon Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (ORID). With a strong passion in providing language equity for the communities he serves, Jordan hopes to enable accessible training resources for interpreters to ensure quality access to communication is available for all.
DANIELLE SOBEL
Role: Consultant
Danielle is the Senior Director of Policy and Government Affairs at the Oregon Primary Care Association, the membership association of Oregon’s 34 Federally Qualified Health Centers. She has over 15 years experience working in health policy, research and advocacy, including serving in policy roles for the Oregon Medical Association, the State of Oregon, the State of Georgia and Voices for Georgia’s Children. She is passionate about putting good policy into action, especially when those policies promote public health, children’s issues, health reform and equity.
Danielle grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of Portland and the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. She is active in the public health community and currently serves on the Oregon Rural Health Association and CCO Oregon boards as well as OHCIA. She is a past president of the board of directors at Candlelighters for Children with Cancer.
ROCÍO RIOS NIÑO
Role: Marketing & Media Consultant
Rocío Rios Niño is a Spanish language journalist and communications professional with more than 30 years of experience in press, television, radio, web and social media. A native of Colombia, Rocío Rios began her career in 1990 as a reporter for El Espectador, Colombia’s national newspaper in Bogotá. She started working at Oregon Catholic Press (OCP) in 1999 as editor of El Centinela newspaper and a Bilingual Editor of Worship Publications. She has strong experience in print, video, online and social media.
MATTHEW U’REN, JD
Role: Honorary Board Member and Legal Advisor
Matthew U’Ren is a Portland attorney specialized in medical issues and litigation. The majority of his clients are Spanish speaking. Briefly stated, he regularly sees the outcomes that result from competent, and incompetent, medical interpreting. In addition to his American legal credentials, Mr U’Ren has a trilingual master’s degree from the University of Grenoble, France, and has practiced law in France and is a member of the French bar. The trilingual portion his French master’s degree was a specialization in translation and interpreting in both French and Spanish (and English, of course). More honorifically, he also serves as a consulting for the Mexican Consulate in Portland and as the accredited attorney for the French Consulate in San Francisco, for the state of Oregon. He has also taught law in France, and Switzerland, as well as Serbia and Iran.
BARBARA GLIDEWELL M.B.S.
Role: Honorary Board Member
Ms. Glidewell received Associate Degree, Nursing, Bachelor of Arts –Communication, and Masters of Behavioral Science –Applied. She holds several formal post-graduate certifications. Her 43 years at Oregon Health & Science University include 34 years as OHSU Ombudsman, Patient Advocate, and Director, Dept. of Patient Relations. She administratively directed Palliative & Comfort Care, Patient Advocate Service, Medical Interpreter Service and four years, directing Clinical Social Work. She was Chair of the OHSU Ethics Consultation service for nine years. Semi-retiring in 2010 she joined OHSU faculty as Clinical Associate Professor. In 2016 she was honored with appointment to Emeritus Associate Professor status. She is a Senior Scholar with the OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care. During her 30 years with the Center she variously served as Associate Director, and Co-Director of the Interprofessional Health Care Ethics Certification Fellowship. She continues actively teaching clinical ethics to students, resident and fellows across the health care disciplines. She speaks locally and regionally on a variety of subjects such as: end of life discussions, surrogacy, decisional capacity, delivering bad news, moral distress, conscientious objection and Advance Directives and POLST.
JAMES L. MASON, PH.D.
Role: Honorary Board Member
Dr. James Mason is the Chief Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Officer for CareOregon. He has also served as the President of OCCAT, a Portland-based DEI consulting firm that assists health and human service organizations, institutions of higher education, and community development entities around the US, Latin America and Canada. He is the former Chief Diversity Officer for Providence Health & Services in Oregon where as a member of the executive leadership team, he guided community engagement, staff development, and other strategic diversity initiatives within and outside of Oregon.
He is the former Director of the Office of Multicultural Health for the state of Oregon where he helped pass legislation regarding health care interpretation, the first in the nation. He was one of the inaugural founders of the National Association of State Offices of Minority Health. He was also a senior consultant and original member of the National Center on Cultural Competence at Georgetown University. In collaboration with the Georgetown University Child Development Center, he developed a model of enhancing health and human services for diverse and underserved populations, and provide consultation and training services to health and related organizations and bureaucracies in the US.
His work in higher education includes administrator, grant writer, and educator/researcher. He has consulted with universities and professional schools around issues of student and faculty retention, pipeline development, curriculum enhancements, and community engagement.
Since 1990, Dr. Mason has published articles and spoken at regional and national conferences on issues of health care, compulsory and higher education, community and economic development, DEI, and culturally competent service delivery to a wide array of audiences.
SUSY MOLANO, CMI
Role: Executive Director
The principal founder and first board chair of the OHCIA, Susy has over fifteen years of experience in the health care interpreting field. A Certified Medical Interpreter, Susy saw the barriers facing effective interpreting in Oregon, and took action to create and lead the OHCIA. Currently the owner of Molano Multicultural Communications, Susy actively works to implement positive change for interpreters.
TEAM MEMBERS
FELICITY RATWAY
Director of Educational Programs
MARY SOOTS
Consultant
msoots@ohcia.org
CATALINA WHITE-MADRID
Training Coordinator
training@ohcia.org