Estephanie Ortiz is a project coordinator in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese (SPPO) and also serves as the program assistant for the SPPO Outreach Committee. Her positive impact spans a number of OSU programs and initiatives as well as a slate of volunteer activities. Estephanie is the project coordinator for the Integrated Second Language Learning for Chronic Care study (ISLL) (NIDDK/NIH Funded), A tu L.A.D.O study (P.C.O.R.I Funded), Interpreter for the Medical Profession through Advanced Curriculum and Teaching (I.M.P.A.C.T.) (OSU Funded), and the Validation Study for the Spanish version of the IAPCC-R.

Through working with the ISLL study, she has developed creative strategies to reduce student and Latino diabetic patient attrition rates and coordinated the implementation of a Spanish conversation table at the College of Nursing for student participants. In A tu L.A.D.O, she fosters engagement among institutions, researchers, interpreters, and Latino diabetic patients and caregivers in Columbus, Toledo, Lorain, Cincinnati and Cleveland. She also assists with providing access to affordable health programs and opportunities for personal development such as ESL courses in Columbus. Estephanie works with Westland High School and Southwestern Career Academy students for the IMPACT project. This project serves as a pipeline from high school to college for heritage Spanish speakers by utilizing their language abilities to certify them as medical interpreters and earn college credits upon completing their high school graduation.

Learn more and see a video of the Award Ceremony here