Community
Breaking Down Language Barriers to Serve Immigrant Needs
Liv Dávila, associate professor in Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, has spent her academic career researching language and communication issues related to immigrant and refugee populations. She is also delving into the training that medical students undertake in communicating with patients—particularly those for whom English is not their first language. She’s been affiliated with the Carle Illinois College of Medicine for the past two years. “What we know from research is that the populations that suffer the most from various medical challenges, that have the worst health outcomes, are those whose first language is not English,” says Dávila.