Dear prospective or current member,

Join us in advocating for professional medical interpreting services!

Whether you are currently a working medical interpreter or a hospital considering setting up an Interpreter Service Department, you will find the International Medical Interpreter Association to be a clearinghouse of information and all that you would expect from a world-class association. At the forefront in the advancement of professional medical interpreters and linguistic access for all patients, our organization gives you the opportunity to learn about one of the most altruistic careers while benefiting from networking with our state, national, and international members about important issues facing our profession. Our stature is augmented by our international presence, and 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. We are proud to report that we have become a financially independent organization for the last two years now.

The added benefits of joining the association include e-news briefs, meetings several times a year, notices of job and training opportunities, and an annual conference held in October that is known to be “the” conference on medical interpreting.  IMIA has recently made public the most Comprehensive Interpreter Registry in the world, it is available online and it is searchable by language, state, or name.

Corporate members can also post job and training opportunities to targeted language groups. Our activities will provide ideal professional development for the many cultural and intellectual demands of your working medical interpreters. As an individual member, you benefit from these notices and can be assured that you will be informed of all the developments in your field. We also have other groups, such as providers and trainers and language access administrators that support the work of the association.

IMIA has been working on several fronts to professionalize medical interpreting, I look forward at supporting initiatives such as the certification efforts to include new languages and promote the recognition of credentialed medical interpreters, the work on the advocacy front by continuing local, national and international advocacy efforts, work on leadership development by supporting and promoting State Representative, International Representative and committee development initiatives,  maintain the leadership position in the field by strengthening IMIA’s structure, support professional education by promoting interpreter education worldwide as well as professional development of medical interpreters, develop a national accreditation program for Medical Interpreter Training, formalize a Client Education Campaign and any other initiative pertinent to the IMIA mandate.

IMIA has been growing rapidly nationally and internationally, we now have over 30 State Reps and international representation in Beijing, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, South Africa and the UK. This expansion will allow us to grow even stronger, learn from a variety of experiences and support those that can learn from our expertise.

2011 is a very exciting year, IMIA celebrates its 25th anniversary, it is a year to analyze what has been done and identify where we want to go, with so many initiatives in place, IMIA needs the energy, knowledge, expertise and commitment of its members. I would like to invite you to actively participate in one or more of the various committees; you can certainly make a difference, please contact our administrator at info@imiaweb.org, the Chair of the committee that you would like to join or myself at president@imiaweb.org for information on how to support your organization. I would also like to invite interpreter organizations to work with IMIA, united we are stronger.

I truly believe that the only way we can achieve our outcomes is by actively engaging with the organization, working together to achieve its goals while keeping in mind our common purpose.

I look forward at working with you and make the medical interpreting world a better world.

Lola Bendana
IMIA President


Lola Bendana's interview on Diversity Dialogue
http://youtu.be/_ngfA9SRlV8