Wilma Alvarado-Little, MA, MSW

Ms. Alvarado-Little has focused on racial and health equity issues from a linguistic and cultural perspective in addition to her interests in public policy, research, health literacy, and health disparities prevention. Joining the NYS Department of Health as the Associate Commissioner and Director of the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities Prevention, she focuses on Health Literacy and Language Access Initiatives.

She has been instrumental in the development and implementation of hospital and clinic-based programs and policy. She is the former co-chair of the Board of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC), which during her tenure, the Council accomplished the first National Certification for healthcare interpreters, National Standards of Practice and the National Code of Ethics for Healthcare Interpreters. She serves as a member of the HHS Office of Minority Health National Project Advisory Committee for the Review of the CLAS Standards and has served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Health Literacy initiative and as chair of the New York State Office of Mental Health Multicultural Advisory Committee and has co-authored publications on health literacy and language access.

She is a language access advocate with over 30 years of experience in the healthcare field. She has been a strong voice advocating for the provision of linguistically appropriate healthcare services at national, state, and local levels in addition to her interests in public policy, research, and health disparities prevention.

She is a healthcare interpreter and trainer who has been instrumental in the development and implementation of hospital and clinic-based programs. She has also been involved with media initiatives on the importance of identifying linguistic and cultural barriers in the provision of quality health care services.

An advocate to educate healthcare institutions on provision of quality language access services and has participated in efforts led by the Joint Commission, American Medical Association, and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health.

Prior to becoming an independent consultant, she and SUNY colleagues received a grant from the National Institutes of Health in May 2009 as part of an award to the Center for Elimination of Minority Health Disparities, University at Albany, SUNY to support research to identify access and barriers to health care for populations in smaller cities and served as the PI/ Director of Community Engagement/Outreach.