AATIA General Meeting Healthcare Interpreting

Join us for AATIA’s general meeting on December 9, 2023, at 3:00 pm at the Aiden by Best Western Austin City Hotel (220 S I H 35, 78704 Austin).

The focus of our meeting will be on healthcare interpreting this time, and we are excited that two very distinguished speakers are joining us who will present on various topics related to healthcare interpreting.

Graciela Zozaya, our first speaker, will provide us with an overview of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC), its role, and its work and influence in the healthcare interpreting field. Graciela will then move on to speak about the changes in the delivery of services brought about by the pandemic, and how this has changed the landscape of language access services offerings, and how this, along with emerging technologies, like AI, MT, etc., are shaping the healthcare interpreting and training landscape.

Cesar Palacio, our second speaker, will talk about providing language services in a hospital and its various challenges. Cesar was the Director of Language Assistance at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston until recently. Adding oncology specialties in almost every area of medicine, as well as a constant flow of international patients compounds those challenges. Cesar’s presentation will offer an overview of the inner workings of the language services department at the largest cancer treatment and research center and the challenges associated with providing meaningful language access while complying with federal and state regulations in a caring and compassionate manner. The presentation will also touch on the future of language services in health care and provide some basic advise to language professionals.

About Graciela Zozaya

For the past 30 years, Graciela has played many different roles in Language Access. Working as an independent translator and interpreter, managing a large team of interpreters at a county healthcare organization, and an elite team of translators at an advertising agency.

Graciela currently sits on the Board of Directors of the National Council for Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC) as Director at Large, and previously has served on the boards of directors of the Texas Association of Healthcare Interpreters and Translators, the Houston Interpreters and Translators Association, and the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters.

Graciela has created several training courses for medical and court interpreters, which she teaches at the University of Houston, Downtown Campus. Originally from Mexico City, she moved to Texas in 1989. She has been certified as a Certified Medical Interpreter and a Certified Healthcare Interpreter; she is a Master Licensed Court Interpreter and an ATA-certified Translator.

About Cesar Palacio

Cesar Palacio served as director of the Language Assistance department at UT MD
Anderson Cancer Center for sixteen years. In this capacity, he was responsible for
providing language services to a diverse population of domestic and international
patients. In his role, Cesar strived to ensure that MD Anderson’s demand for language
access was satisfied in a high quality, cost-effective and efficient manner, while
maintaining compliance with regulations.

Cesar, a native of Peru, started his career in languages in the mid 80’s as a freelance
Spanish translator and interpreter, while studying at Texas Tech University. His interest
in languages took him to obtain degrees in Technical Communication and Latin
American Studies. His initial training in biology prepared him to advance in the field of
medical translation and interpretation.

Prior to joining MD Anderson, Cesar worked on the management side of the language
industry, managing his own company in Dallas, Texas and a medium-sized language
services company in Rochester, New York. He was also a staff Spanish medical
interpreter with UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. During his career
Cesar has been exposed to many medical specialties, working extensively in inpatient,
outpatient, and emergent care settings.

As part of his professional career, Cesar has also been involved in business consulting
and in the management of businesses outside the language services industry. He has been
involved in diverse businesses areas including operations management, human resources,
client relations, facilities management, expense control, training and development,
writing and editing, and purchasing, among others. Cesar retired from MD Anderson in
June of 2023 and is now pursuing consulting opportunities in the language services
industry.