Greetings from the IMIA President!
Dear prospective or current member,
At the forefront of the professional advancement of certified medical interpreters and equal access for all patients, IMIA provides medical interpreters and professional language services professionals an opportunity to network with our state, national, and international members about important issues facing our profession. Our international presence augments our stature, as well as the experience and multicultural expertise of the accomplished members who are renown experts and pioneers in the field of medical interpreting and intercultural communication.
The primary benefit of joining a professional association is representation. With over 2100 members, the IMIA, is the only national and international trade organization that represents primarily the interests of working professional medical interpreters and is not grant funded. It is self-supported by the membership fees of its members for the membership services it provides.
The added benefits of joining the association include current events briefs, meetings several times a year, and notices of job and training opportunities. As an individual member, you enjoy multiple benefits from these privileges. The IMIA Terminology Resource database is a fantastic resource, developed specifically for medical interpreters. IMIA has developed the most comprehensive online Interpreter Registry in the world allowing interpreter locations all searchable by language, state, or name. A listing in the registry allows prospective employers to locate members anywhere, anytime. Corporate members are invited to post all employment and training opportunities to targeted language groups. The IMIA also maintains the online Education Registry, the first, best online resource for locating Medical Interpreter educational opportunities. To date, as many as 500 programs, workshops, webinars, and other learning activities currently reside on the IMIA Education Registry offering skill set development programs in person, and now even online.
IMIA has a lot of plans for 2017. Our annual conference is an internationally attended event. June 2017 will be the best conference yet. I also look forward to actively supporting our ongoing initiatives to develop national certification credentials for new languages and to promote the recognition of current certified medical interpreters. I will continue to encourage and promote development initiatives from IMIA State Representative, International Representative, and IMIA committees. Our LifeLong Learning Series of monthly CEU webinars will continue through the new year, and we have plans to launch new innovative initiatives for IMIA-developed/provided continuing education opportunities These will be available exclusively to active IMIA Members, so stay tuned!
IMIA is sustained by the energy, knowledge, expertise and commitment of its members and volunteers. I challenge you to participate in one or more of the various committees actively; you can certainly make a difference. If you are interested and want to contribute to the IMIA’s mission, do not hesitate - contact our administrator at info@imiaweb.org, the Chair of the committee which interests you, or myself at president@imiaweb.org for information on how to support your organization.
Thank you for your support,
​Juana Horton, IMIA President​
Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results." Andrew Carnegie