Susy Molano named 2020 RWJF-APIC Award for Health Equity Recipient
Susy Molano, CMI, Executive Director of the Oregon Health Care Interpreters Association, is this year’s winner of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award (RWJF) for Health Equity presented by the Asian & Pacific Islander Caucus for Public Health (APIC). The RWJF Award is given each year to a leader who has made outstanding contributions toward achieving health equity and implemented systems changes in their community.
Ms. Molano is a leader in health care interpreting. She is an Oregon Certified Medical interpreter and Community Health Worker, and is an attorney by training from her home country of Colombia. She has worked tirelessly in advocating for the professionalization of health care interpreters, founding the Oregon Health Care Interpreters Association in 2010. Ms. Molano is passionate about improving the profession of health care interpreting and has implemented strategies to improve equal and quality access to health care for limited English proficient communities. She developed the Pacific NW Interpreters Hub, which brings together an innovative team approach to improving access to training, development, and professionalization of health care interpreters. The Pacific NW Interpreters Hub also facilitates employment opportunities, especially for refugees, asylees, and immigrants and promotes the safety of patients and communities. She is currently working with House Health Care Chair Oregon State Representative Andrea Salinas and a number of stakeholders to advance legislation to ensure that all healthcare interpreters, interpreting agencies, and health care providers will be held to the highest standards while offering language access services to limited English proficient patients during the upcoming 2021 legislative session.
Ms. Molano will be presented with the RWJF Award for Health Equity at the APIC Awards Ceremony on October 25, 2020 during the week of the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting and Expo. APIC is one of nine national membership organizations that selects changemakers in the community who are improving well-being for the people they serve. More information about the RWJF Award for Health Equity can be found at here.
ABOUT THE ASIAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER CAUCUS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
APIC is the Vision & Voice for Asian & Pacific Islander Public Health and Health Equity. Our mission is to advance the health and health equity of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States, associated jurisdictions, and the diaspora, in affiliation with the American Public Health Association. Find out more at www.apicaucus.org.
ABOUT THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION
For more than 45 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve health and health care. We are working alongside others to build a national Culture of Health that provides everyone in America a fair and just opportunity for health and well-being. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.