AIGERIM ALIAKPAROVA
Running for Director of the NCIHC Board of Directors

As a healthcare professional, interpreter, and with over fifteen years of international experience, I am honored to submit my candidacy for Director of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC). My career has been dedicated to advancing equitable, culturally responsive care and promoting language access as both an ethical duty and a social determinant of health. I bring a distinctive combination of experience in clinical ethics, healthcare management, and interpretation practice, bridging the worlds of medicine, science, and language access.

I began my career as Director for International Communication at Kazakhstan's first stem cell institute and later led the Department of Marketing and Business Development at the Republican Research Center for Emergency Care, where I launched the nation's first outpatient hospital offering interpretation services for international patients. I subsequently managed international healthcare projects at Nazarbayev University, including the $300 million development of the National Research Oncology Center in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). In the U.S., my work as a Russian-English medical interpreter inspired me to found Spectria, the first U.S. initiative dedicated to supporting neurodiverse, non-English-speaking families from post-Soviet countries. Through Spectria, I collaborate with healthcare entities and community organizations to improve cultural responsiveness in pediatric care.

Currently, as a PhD student in Healthcare Ethics at Duquesne University, my research explores the ethical significance of interpretation services and the integration of interpreters and cultural mediators into healthcare ethics consultation. I also actively contribute to national conversations on healthcare equity, technology, and language access. In 2025 alone, I participated in over a dozen national and academic conferences, including the NCIHC Language Access Congress (Arkansas), where I presented "Advancing Language Accessibility in Healthcare: The Role of AI in Supporting Medical Interpretation." I was also invited by Family Voices USA as a panelist for the bilingual PALS (Promoting Access to Language Services) webinar series and served as a lecturer for the American Academy of Pediatrics' ECHO program on integrating language access into clinical encounters for children and youth with special healthcare needs. My other presentations this year included talks at the Conference on Medicine and Religion, the 34th Annual APPE International Conference, and multiple symposia on ethics and artificial intelligence in healthcare interpretation.

These experiences reflect my passion for uniting academia, clinical ethics, and frontline interpreting practice. I aim to bring this interdisciplinary lens to the NCIHC Board by:

- Strengthening the Council's engagement with healthcare systems, researchers, and policy makers.

- Promoting the ethical and professional integration of interpreters into healthcare teams.

- Supporting innovation in technology and AI that advances, not replaces, human-centered interpreting.

- Building sustainable bridges among interpreters, clinicians, and families through education and advocacy.

I am committed to the NCIHC's mission of ensuring equitable language access and professional excellence in healthcare interpretation. My work across continents, from hospitals in Central Asia to conferences and ethics committees in the United States, reflects one core belief: language is not a service; it is the foundation of ethical, compassionate, and equitable care.

Aigerim Aliakparova's Resume

Return to Election page