Our Chinese translator is Li Quan.
„ Quan“ "(全) means in Chinese “complete. He is the youngest grandson in his family, born in a small town in Anhui province, in October 1982. When he was born his grandmother said “ the family is now complete” that is where the name comes from.
Quan studied at the former First Military Medical University (FIMMU) in Guangzhou in 1999 – 2004. FIMMU was transferred to civilian and changed its name into “ Southern Medical University” in 2004. Meanwhile all his faculty were moved to Second Military Medical University (SMMU) in Shanghai to continue their postgraduate course.
He has been in Shanghai for nearly four years now and is one of the doctoral students in the orthopedic department of Shanghai Hospital, where Zang Shaocheng works.
He is graduating in the year 2009.
One of our Spanish translator is Alexis Talavera.
He was born in Cuba in the year 1977. After trying to reach the Florida Keys on a small raft with five others in August 1994, they were picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard twenty miles away from their destination, and taken to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On December 29, 1994 he finally arrived in the United States of America.
There he took English classes at the Miami Dade Community College and worked two jobs at the same time. In 1996 he moved to New Mexico where he took a job at Wild Oats Natural Food Market. There he climbed through various positions until he ended up by supervising the entire store.
During all this time he never gave up his childhood dream, to become a medical doctor. Now he is in his senior year as a biochemistry major in the University of New Mexico.
He is married to Katherine with two children named Marissa and Alex.
Our other Spanish translator is Roberto Astorga.
He is educated in Mexico City and the United States. He has engaged in multidisciplinary fields such as the humanities, acting, yoga and public health.
In 1996 Roberto began his path in public health working in the development of outreach programs for migrant and seasonal farm workers in Mount Vernon, Washington. His restless, creative energy and his experience working in the media has enabled him to fill the gap between the value of research and dissemination of knowledge to the Latino Community in a culturally competent manner.
He has produced a series of health education radio shows including “Salud y Comunidad” ( Health and Community) and the successful program “ Hablemos sobre el cancer” (Let´s talk about cancer) in Oregon and Washington. Currently he is working at a short time project for Cascade Aids Project, focusing his efforts to raise awareness in the Latino Community about HIV and AIDS.
“My passion is to combine science and culture, so the community can understand complex, scientific information in a culturally sensitive context”
Our Arabic translator is Dr. Yousef Krakrah.
He was born in Romania 1982 but raised in Israel from the age of two.
After finishing high school he traveled to Hungary where he completed his medical degree in 2007. Curently he is working at a surgery department at Flekkefjord Hospital in Norway.
Our Database director is Laurance Johnston.
He has obtained his masters and doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology from Northwestern University (Illinois). His Ph.D. research focused on the mechanism of action of various antibiotics, including vancomycin, an antibiotic of last resort in resistant infections. While later working at the Chicago Medical School, he was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Damon Runyon/Walter Winchell Cancer Foundation. He later obtained a MBA degree from George Mason University in Virginia. Dr. Johnston became a regulatory scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and later Director, Division of Scientific Review, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health (NIH). After leaving NIH, he assumed the directorship of the Spinal Cord Research and Education Foundations, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA).
Supported by PVA and now by the Icelandic government, Dr. Johnston has written extensively on various therapies that expand the healing spectrum of people with spinal cord injury. He has been invited to speak at national and international meetings and is listed in Who’s Who in America. “