NAMS MedCast's Podcast

Send us Fan Mail  In this episode of NAMS MedCast, we take a step back from the clinic to explore the science behind language learning itself. Our guest, Dr. Allison Yakel , holds a Ph. D. in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of Houston and has more than seven years of experience teaching Spanish at the university level, from foundational conversation to specialized terminology. Having live...

Send us Fan Mail Equitable healthcare begins with understanding the communities we serve . For immigrant and underserved populations, language access and cultural responsiveness are essential to safe, effective care. For many medical trainees, engaging with these realities early in their careers shapes not only how they practice medicine, but why they chose the profession in the first place. In th...

Send us Fan Mail Access to high-quality care during pregnancy and childbirth shouldn’t depend on the language you speak. Yet for many Spanish-speaking mothers in the U.S., communication barriers can mean delayed care, missed diagnoses, or feeling unseen in critical moments. Understanding and addressing these inequities requires more than translation; it demands a system built on language justice ....

Send us Fan Mail Medical care doesn’t begin or end in academic centers, clinics, or hospitals. Public health organizations—like the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan (NKFM)—play a critical role in building networks of preventive care. These organizations serve as the connective tissue between healthcare institutions and local communities, helping to translate medical knowledge into accessible...

Send us Fan Mail Volunteer organizations like the Mobile Migrant Health Team (MMHT) , based out of Chicago, IL, have been on the frontlines of taking care of the recent surge of largely Spanish-speaking migrants to the United States. Working in police precincts, temporary shelters, and free clinics, the work of these volunteer organizations underscores both challenges and urgency of clear and high...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the NAMS Medcast , we sit down with Dr. Reniell Iñiguez, a second-year internal medicine resident at Northwestern and host of the Más Allá del Estetoscopio , a medical Spanish podcast. Dr. Iñiguez shares his journey from community college to residency, the personal experiences that shaped his passion for medical Spanish, and the challenges of launching a podcast...

Send us Fan Mail While the teaching of language concordant care is a fundamental area of work in Medical Spanish, novel approaches to Education have to be considered as the field progresses further into the 21st century. This can even include novel areas of work like Virtual Reality (VR) and  Artificial Intelligence (AI).  In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Alyssia Miller De Rutté, Director of...

Send us Fan Mail This episode of the NAMS MedCast features a conversation with Mara Youdelman of the National Health Law Program (NHeLP). Mara is the Managing Director of Federal Advocacy at NHeLP and a national expert in language access, civil rights protections, and healthcare advocacy, with over two decades of experience. Mara's extensive work includes co-chairing The Leadership Conference...

Send us Fan Mail The NAMS Student Coalition has worked to create a number of tools and workshops to help students at different stages of their medical education advocate for the development of medical language courses which foster and implement the importance of linguistic and cultural concordant care.  One of these avenues is through the presentation of a dynamic workshop entitled ‘ Empowering St...

Send us Fan Mail The responsibility to provide language concordant care does not fall solely on the shoulders of physicians, as modern healthcare entails the collaboration of many different medical disciplines and professionals with different areas of expertise and training. Pharmacists play a key role in patient communication, medication management, and in maintaining trust, so it is very importa...

Send us Fan Mail NAMS allows its members to learn about the many ways in which Medical Spanish can be incorporated in the different facets of Medical Education, and our community also provides insight into the needs of this language in Medical School Admissions and DEI initiatives.  In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Sandra Quezada, the Associate Dean of Admissions and Associate Dean for Facult...

Send us Fan Mail Medical Spanish Education Initiatives come in all shapes and sizes, and offer a unique  avenue for networking and collaboration both across and outside the United States.  In our first episode of 2024, we chat with Dr. James Moak, an Associate Professor in the Departmet of Emergency Medicine at the University of Virginia, and the founder of the 'Spanish Grand Rounds' Sem...

Send us Fan Mail Through NAMS, we’re very lucky that we have a chance to connect with and learn from many of the programs and initiatives from across the United States that already work to teach students and professionals alike about the importance of language concordant care.  For our last episode of 2023, we interview Dr. Rose Molina and Dr. Silvana Bonilla to learn about the Medical Language Pr...

Send us Fan Mail At NAMS, we are very lucky that we’re able to interview and learn from many of the key individuals who have worked to formalize Medical Spanish educational programs in a number of iterations across the United States, and we are even luckier that many of them are willing to share their life stories and teaching philosophies with us.  In this episode, we interview Dr. Marco Aleman a...

Send us Fan Mail Part 2 of our special collaborative and inspirational conversation between the leadership of NAMS (National Association for Medical Spanish) and MOLA (the Medical Organization for Latino Advancement), two robust organizations that advocate for the professional and health equity advancement of the Latinx/Hispanic population. We had a chance to sit down with MOLA President Óscar Ivá...

Send us Fan Mail This special episode is a collaborative and inspirational conversation between the leadership of NAMS (National Association for Medical Spanish) and MOLA (the Medical Organization for Latino Advancement), two robust organizations that advocate for the professional and health equity advancement of the Latinx/Hispanic population. We had a chance to sit down with MOLA President Óscar...

Send us Fan Mail Even though many of our initiatives are only a few years old, we owe a lot to the student leaders who took it upon themselves to find a niche for student-led initiatives, projects, and tools when the NAMS was first established. In our fourth episode, we have the pleasure of chatting with la Dra. Michelle Disher and Dr. Alec Contag, the two founders of the Student Coalition when it...

Send us Fan Mail NAMS aims to formalize a plethora of projects to measure Spanish-language concordant care initiatives, and we’re very lucky that so many of the members of the NAMS National Board are happy and excited to share their work!    In our third episode, we chat with la Dra. Cristina Pérez-Cordón, a Language and Communications Specialist at the United Nations and founding member of NAMS,...

Send us Fan Mail It's always a pleasure to chat with students and future medical professionals who are doing amazing things, asi que sean ustedes bienvenidos al nuestro primer 'Student Spotlight'! In our second episode, we chat with Aldana Garcia and Enrique Cazares, current students at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine (MSU CHM), who designed and implemented their...

Send us Fan Mail ¡Nuestro primer capítulo! For our pilot episode, we have the priviledge of interviewing Dra. Pilar Ortega, founding member of the Medical Organization for Latino Advancement (MOLA) and the first President of the National Association of Medical Spanish (NAMS), where she shares her insights on the origins of NAMS, the key stakeholders in our organization, the scope of our membership...