Born in Mexico City, and raised in a Spanish-speaking home in Southern California, Luis developed an interest in languages and cultures at an early age. After taking a translation course by mistake at the university, he decided to make the field of translation and interpretation his career and throughout the years has been able to work in the healthcare, legal and educational fields as an interpreter and translator.

Luis currently heads the Translation Services Unit for the Riverside County Office of Education focusing on language access for over 430,000 students and their families in 23 school districts of Riverside County, CA. He holds a B.A. in Translation & Interpretation Studies, a B.A. in Spanish with Emphasis in Translation from California State University, Long Beach, and a Master’s of Arts in Bilingual Interpreting from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. He also holds a CHI™ certification through the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters.

He is a member of the ATA (American Translators Association) and is a Leadership Committee member of the ITE (Interpreters and Translators in Education) Workgroup, collaborating with interpreters and translators all over the country in an effort to professionalize the educational interpreting field. He brings a unique combination of real-world experience coupled with an academic background as well as deep first-hand knowledge of the issues LEP individuals face on a day-to-day basis.

Gustavo Negrete is certified through the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters and has been for almost six years and is also a Certified HIPAA Privacy Expert. Mr. Negrete is currently an Interpreter/Translator at Riverside University Health System (RUHS), the Coordinator and Lead Instructor for TransInterpreting’s Healthcare Interpreter Program, an OPI and VRI for the Healthcare Interpreting Network (HCIN), and. Previously, he worked as an over the phone interpreter (OPI) for Molina Healthcare, where he interpreted for various departments such as Nurse Advice Line, Member Services, High-Risk OB, Case Management, Health Management, Quality Intervention, Pharmacy, Primary and Specialty Care, and NICU.

Prior to certification, Mr. Negrete provided interpreter services as an Assessed Bilingual Staff Member and Qualified Interpreter in the clinical environment, primarily in the emergency room but was often called upon to interpret in other units such as the ICU, OR, PACU and Cardiology Department. He has 16 years of clinical experience in both the pre-hospital setting as an EMT and in hospital as a Patient Care Technician Level II. He worked closely with ER Physicians and Cardiologists in both capacities and would remain as the interpreter during the consenting and explanation of all procedures, risks, and benefits. Strictly speaking on his clinical roles, he primarily worked as a Chest Pain Technician in charge of performing all initial and subsequent EKGs and screen patients to gather basic information including symptoms, onset, and history. In this role, he would also function as a liaison between ER and Cardiology Departments assisting in the scheduling of exams like Stress Test and Lexiscan, providing updates on changes in laboratory results and or EKG. Additionally, he would also prepare patients for emergency interventions such as synchronized cardioversion and catheterization. In another clinical role, he would perform basic patient care such as vital signs, wound care, splinting and several other hands-on clinical care.

Mr. Negrete received his training at California State University in Fullerton, Extended Education Program in Court Interpreting English-Spanish, Spanish-English; totaling 144 hours of interpreter education.

Édgar Hidalgo García is the Director & Lead Instructor of the Online Interpreting School TransInterpreting. He was also the academic coordinator of Cal State Fullerton’s Legal Interpretation Program and a former instructor at UC Riverside’s Court Interpreter Training Program. Edgar spent half of his life in South America, where he finished high school and attended college. He completed his Bachelor’s in Translation & Interpretation Studies at California State University (Long Beach) and his Master’s in Spanish at California State University (Fullerton).

He initially became a Certified California State Medical Interpreter and worked several years as a staff interpreter both at Long Beach Memorial Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Orange County and in the private sector, as a freelance Medical Interpreter. Later, after becoming certified by the Judicial Council of California as a Court Interpreter, he became employed for the County of San Bernardino where he worked as a staff interpreter for 9 years and as a freelancer for 6 years.

Mr. Hidalgo is an active member of interpreter organizations such as NAJIT (National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators) and the ATA (American Translators Association). He currently trains novice and seasoned interpreters to pass the State and National Certifications both in the legal and medical fields. He also provides continuing education for certified interpreters and translators in all languages.