Marlene and Dr. Kelly Martinkus
Marlene is a cross-cultural trainer and curriculum designer for cultural competency programs and professional medical interpreter training. A registered nurse with over thirty years of hands-on bedside nursing, she originally came from the Philippines, completed her nursing education in the U.S., and has obtained additional certificates in cross-cultural training and transcultural nursing. She has designed and authored over 100 contact hours of continuing education courses for nurses. She is webmaster and website designer for websites including two continuing education websites and a professional organization. She is a certified eCollege instructor.
Marlene is an advocate for language-specific medical interpreter training and for interpreter training for medical professionals and healthcare providers. She is the director of Culture Advantage Professional Medical Interpreter Training offering Language-Specific Medical Interpreter Training for bilingual individuals from physicians to nurses to professionals in non-medical professions in Arabic, Chinese Mandarin, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Programs in other languages are currently in development.
Marlene was the first chair of the Commission for Medical Interpreter Education (CMIE), a division of the International Medical Interpreters Association. CMIE established standards for medical interpreter education. Marlene advocated for a minimum of 60-Hour training for medical interpreters, including 20 hours of training in medical terminology in both languages.
Additionally, Marlene was the first chair of the Minority Languages Division of the IMIA and presented a plan for minority language speakers to improve opportunities for their professional training and recognition.
Marlene designed and presented the first IMIA Medical Terminology Boot Camp which has been presented in many cities all over the US.
As a minority language interpreter and with her over 30 years of experience as an RN in different capacities, Marlene and her team of healthcare professionals and professional interpreters, are uniquely qualified to prepare professional interpreters that meet the expectations of healthcare professionals.
Developer and Presenter: IMIA Medical Terminology Boot Camps
2010
2011
2012
2012 NCTA Medical Terminology Boot Camp
2013 BootCamp Difficult Situations and Exploring Mental Health Interpreting Duke University, Durham, NC
2014 IMIA Conference Medical Terminology Boot Camp and Difficult Situations Boot Camp with Dr. Kelly Martinkus, Houston, TX
Cultural Training and Consulting Clients:
Wichita School District, Wichita, KSMedical Interpreter Training Clients:
Marlene, with her Medical Mentors and CMI/CHI instructors, has personally trained and tested over 100 medical interpreters including bilingual physicians, nurses, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, medical assistants, and other bilingual professionals through her innovative Culture Advantage Professional Medical Interpreter Online and Blended Online-Onsite Training. She has also trained over 200 interpreters through IMIA Medical Interpreter Boot Camps. Marlene is the original designer and presenter of the IMIA Medical Terminology Boot Camp.
Kelly Martinkus, MD, CMI, is a graduate of the Culture Advantage Medical Interpreter Training Program and is delighted to be a Culture Advantage Mentor and the Manager of Program Development-Medical Division at Culture Advantage!
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