Who we are

Profile of our president: Suzanne Salimbene, Ph.D.

Suzanne Salimbene, Ph.D., established Inter-Face International in 1987, and has focused extensively on cultural and linguistic competence in the health care industry since 1993. She and her company are nationally known as pioneers in the field. She provides practical, cost-effective approaches to care that both meets the needs and expectations of culturally diverse patients and the economic, ethical and legal obligations of caregivers and health organizations in caring for this growing patient population.

When the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health published CLAS (National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services) in 2000, she responded to queries to OMH from the healthcare community regarding how to implement these standards by proposing and being granted a contract to write CLAS A-Z: A Practical Guide for Implementing the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Healthcare. She has authored and co-authored continuing education units for Nursing Spectrum and was published in the 1999 Guide to Managed Care Strategies: An Annual Report on the Latest Pricks and Policies in the Managed Care Environment, The Journal of Nursing Care Quality and many other prestigious publications. The Joint Commission interviewed her for a benchmark article on cultural and linguistic competence and reproduced some of her well-known tips in one of their monographs.

A former community faculty member of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine at Rockford, Dr. Salimbene is nationally recognized for her innovative keynotes, workshops and talks to clinical and non-clinical staff at hospitals, HMO's, healthcare systems, schools of medicine, professional organizations and conferences. Now residing in Guadalajara, Mexico, she is assisting Mexican healthcare to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services to North American Medical Tourist patients, while working on the 3rd edition of her popular book, What Language Does Your Patient Hurt In? A Practical Guide to Culturally Competent Patient Care.

Now an associate of the Healthcare Business Institute (HBI) at the Posner Center for International Development, www.healthcarebusinessinstitute.com, a new international nonprofit NGO that focuses its efforts on training and skills development for the healthcare industry.