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Recorded live at the 2025 NAMS–MOLA Conference in San Antonio, this special episode of the NAMS Podcast features a candid, engaging conversation about language, learning, and thriving as a multilingual clinician. Host Dr. Pilar Ortega is joined by Dr. Bright Zhou, Dr. Glenn Martínez, and Dr. Reniell Iñiguez to share personal stories from clinical care and medical education, explore the tensions and moral injury that can arise in multilingual spaces, and discuss practical ways individuals and institutions can better support clinicians and learners with varied language skills. With audience interaction and moments of translanguaging, this live episode highlights the power of language as both a responsibility and a strength in medicine.

For more information about the 2026 NAMS conference please visit https://www.namspanish.org/nams-2026

Más allá de las palabras: Language Advocacy in Health Care

To follow and connect with Dr. Bright Zhou follow @genzattending on Tiktok and Instagram.

To follow and connect with Dr. Reniell Iñiguez follow @made.podcast.md instagram and find the Más Allá del Estetoscopio (MADE) podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/3TFM35GfYEblSRI57cQhJW

To follow and connect with Dr. Pilar Ortega follow @pilarortegamd on Instagram and LinkedIn, and visit www.multilingualhealth.com

Relevant literature discussed

Zhou B, Louie AK. Beyond Humility: Empowering Minoritized Learners Through Culturally Reflective Medicine. Acad Med. 2022 Sep 1;97(9):1299-1304. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000004744. Epub 2022 May 17. PMID: 35583951.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35583951/

Ortega P, Prada J. Words matter: Translanguaging in medical communication skills training. Perspect Med Educ. 2020 Aug;9(4):251-255. doi: 10.1007/s40037-020-00595-z. PMID: 32430877; PMCID: PMC7458954.

Full text open access link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7458954/

To learn more about NAMS membership benefits, visit https://www.namspanish.org/resources
Student memberships are free!

Hosted by: Pilar Ortega, MD, MGM
Guests: Glenn Martinez, PhD, MPH, Reniell Iñiguez, MD, Bright Zhou, MD

NAMS Medcast Production Team: Rafael Ramos, Vera Arenas, Nicole Pérez, Alexis Spencer, Ana Suárez,

Intro and Outro Music:
Bossa Samba Ballad by Studio Le Bus
Standard License Purchased through PremiumBeat by Shutterstock, Licence #3001308

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In this episode, we have the opportunity to meet and learn from Dr. Alexandra López-Vera. Dr. López-Vera is an Assistant Professor of Medical Education and Director of the Medical Spanish Program at California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM). She also serves as an Instructor and Certified Rater for the Physician Oral Language Observation Matrix (POLOM) at the Center for Clinician Multilingualism and is the Vice-Chair of NAMS (National Association of Medical Spanish). We discuss how Dr. López-Vera's training across Spain, England, Canada, and the United States reshaped her understanding of language access; moving it from an individual skill to a structural, institutional responsibility. She shares her perspective on the role and risks of artificial intelligence in medical interpreting, and why AI cannot replace language-concordant care without deepening a "two-tiered" system for patients who speak Spanish. We also explore how she designs and continually refines the Medical Spanish program at CUSM through student feedback, where she hopes to take the course next, and how medical Spanish scholarship has grown and gained recognition over the course of her career.

If you wish to connect with Dr López-Vera you can connect with her via her website at https://alexandralopezvera.com/

To learn more about NAMS membership benefits, visit https://www.namspanish.org/resources
Student memberships are free!

Hosted by: Manuel Panzardi
Guests: Dr. Alexandra López-Vera, PhD, MPH, CHES
NAMS Medcast Production Team:

Alexis Spencer, Ana Suarez, Manuel Panzardi, Rafael Ramos, Vera Arenas, Nicole Perez

Intro and Outro Music:
Bossa Samba Ballad by Studio Le Bus
Standard License Purchased through PremiumBeat by Shutterstock, Licence #3001308

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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 lived and worked in Spanish-speaking countries and completed both her master’s and doctoral degrees entirely in Spanish, Dr. Yakel brings a unique perspective as both a linguist and a second-language learner.

Dr. Yakel shares her perspective on the process of language acquisition, the importance of sociocultural context when learning Spanish, and the differences between heritage speakers and traditional second-language learners. We also discuss her work creating bilingual children’s books, strategies for building sustainable language-learning habits, and practical advice for clinicians and educators developing Medical Spanish curricula.

Whether you are teaching Medical Spanish, learning it yourself, or working to improve language access in healthcare, this conversation offers thoughtful insights into how people truly acquire language—and how that knowledge can help us communicate more effectively with patients.

Hosted by: Manuel Panzardi
Guests: Dr. Allison Yakel
NAMS Medcast Production Team: Alexis Spencer, Ana Suarez, Manuel Panzardi, Rafael Ramos

Intro and Outro Music:
Bossa Samba Ballad by Studio Le Bus
Standard License Purchased through PremiumBeat by Shutterstock, Licence #3001308