A Chapter of the Medical Library Association

These are the candidates for the MLGSCA 2024 Election as approved by Advisory Council. Please watch your email for ballots coming soon.

President Elect (3-year term), 1 candidate

Andrea Harrow

Andrea Harrow, MLIS, AHIP-D, is a Clinical Information Services Librarian for Norris Medical Library and Keck Medical Center of USC at the University of Southern California.

 She received her Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her Master’s degree in Information Services Management from London Metropolitan University, London, England.

Andrea began her library and information services career as Assistant Librarian, Acquisitions for the British Film Institute National Library in London, England, and was promoted to Annuals Librarian, and Indexing Librarian. She was also employed as Information Assistant for the HIV Prevention Information Service at the Health Development Agency in London, England. Upon her return to California, she served as the Medical Librarian in the medical staff services department at PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles where she managed the hospital’s library and information services for nearly 20 years until her position was eliminated in 2022.

Andrea has served on MLGSCA committees since 2006, starting out as a member of the Continuing Education committee. She was Secretary, 2008/2009; Connections Chair, 2009-2012; Professional Issues Chair, 2015-2018; Joint Meeting Co-Chair, 2018; and most recently has served as Internal Auditor, 2022-2024; Nominating Committee, 2022-2024; and is a member of the newly formed DEI-A Task Force, 2023-24.

 She has been a Distinguished member of the Medical Library Association’s Academy of Health Information Professionals since 2012, and is a member of 14 MLA Caucuses! She has served with the MLA/HLS Professional Development Grant Jury, 2013-15; Secretary, Cancer Librarians Section, 2013-15; Lindberg Research Fellowship Jury, 2017/18; Co-chair, Hospital Library Census Task Force, 2019; Colianni Award for Excellence and Achievement in Hospital Librarianship Jury, 2023; Clinical Librarians & Evidence Based Practice, Information Services Domain Hub Delegate, 2023-2025 (Domain Hubs are to be disbanded in 2024).

 

Secretary (1-year term), 2 candidates

David Carson

David Carson (MM, MLIS) is a Health Sciences Librarian at Chapman University’s Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus in Irvine, CA. He serves as the liaison librarian for Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, providing instruction, reference, and research assistance. In previous positions in Los Angeles and Orange County, David served as a distance education librarian, public services librarian, and cataloger. He is a member of the Medical Library Association and will be attending and presenting at the MLA conference for the first time this year. David joined MLGSCA in 2022 and currently serves as Parliamentarian for 2023-2024. He is a member of the Governmental Relations & Bylaws Committee and Research Committee. He holds a MLIS from Wayne State University (2018) and a MM in Music History from Bowling Green State University (2014). David lives with his husband and tuxedo cat in Mission Viejo, CA, where he enjoys exploring the many parks, beaches, and trails of south Orange County.

 

Zemirah Ngow

Zemirah (Lee) Ngow received her MLIS from SJSU in 2014. In 2020 she joined MLA & MLGSCA and earned her AHIP-S shortly thereafter. In 2023, she began her Chapter service as the NNLM Region 5 Liaison and Chairs the DEI-A Task Force.  Within MLA, she’s a member of the following caucuses and communities: Academic Librarians, Clinical Librarians and Evidence Based Practice, Collection Development, Complementary and Integrative Health, Hospital Library, Libraries in Health Sciences Curriculums, Medical Library Education, Research, Resource Sharing, and Systematic Review.

Zem’s been working steadily to complete her SRSS I and II credentials and supports the Systematic Review Services program at UCSD Library where she works as the Collection Strategist for Life & Health Sciences and supports the departments in Psychiatry, Biomedical Informatics, and the Atkinson Physician Assistant Program.

 

MLGSCA Nominating Committee (2 seats, 2-year term), 3 candidates

Hal Bright

Hal Brightis the University Library Director and PA and dental liaison librarian at A.T. Still University in Mesa, AZ. He has been an active MLGSCA chapter member since 2012 and has been involved on the PIC and Awards committees. Hal was the co-chair for the MLGSCANCNMLA Joint Conference in Scottsdale, AZ. Hal is active with CABL (Central Arizona Biomedical Librarians), SCELC (Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium) and AZHIN (Arizona Health Information Network) on a local level and part of the TIES, NAHRS, Osteopathic and Dental Caucuses in MLA. He has led both the TIES and Osteopathic caucuses and been part of the MLA Education Committee. Hal received his MLS from the University of Arizona, BA from Arizona State University and AA from Glendale Community College.

 

Karina Kletscher

Karina Kletscher (she/her) is a Health Sciences Librarian on the Creighton University Health Sciences Campus - Phoenix. Her research interests include critical pedagogies, the medical humanities, student success, and belonging in the academic library. Her previous works have concerned fostering student success, academic library spaces, and librarians’ roles in adolescent sexual health literacy. When outside of the library, you can find her digging around a vintage market or trying a new DIY project.

Karina earned her EdD from Creighton University and her MLIS form the Unieristy of Maryland, College Park. She is currently serving as MLGSCA Secretary for teh 2023-2024 term and has been active in MLA and several caucuses.

As an early-career librarian, and even newer health sciences liaison, MLGSCA has been a great learning and networking resource and Karina hopes to continue contributing back to the organization in a more engaged role.

 

Ivan Portillo

Ivan Portillo, MLIS, AHIP, is a Health Sciences Librarian for the Leatherby Libraries at Chapman University. Ivan Portillo received his MLIS from San Jose State University and is a Senior AHIP member. With over a decade of experience, Ivan currently serves as the Director of Rinker Campus Library Services at the Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus.  He is also the subject liaison for the School of Pharmacy and the departments of physical therapy, physician assistant, and communication sciences and disorders in the Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences. Ivan is passionate about information literacy, health literacy, and emerging technologies. 

 

MLA Chapter Council Representative and Alternative (3-year term), 3 candidates

Elisa Cortez

Elisa Cortez is the Medical Education and Clinical Outreach Librarian at the University of California, Riverside. Previously, she worked at Loma Linda University where she was liaison librarian to the School of Dentistry and the School of Allied Health, and head of User/Access Services, Reference and Research Services Departments. Elisa is active in her local MLA chapter, MLGSCA, and has held various roles including President, Secretary, Treasurer, and is currently serving on the MLGSCA Archives ad-hoc committee, CE, and Membership committees.  She was elected President of MLGSCA in 2017. She served two terms as Past-President, 2013-2014 due to vacancy, Past-President role in 2020 and Chair of the Nominating Committee 2020.  Elisa has served on several MLA committees most recently the National Program Committee 2022, Contributed Content Working Group, 2020 – 2022, and Education Hub Delegate, Health Humanities Caucus 2020 – 2023. She is a current member of the following caucuses: Academic Librarians, Clinical Librarians and Evidence Based Practice, Hospital Library, Health Humanities, Latinx, Leadership and Management, Libraries in Health Sciences Curriculums, Scholarly Communications, Systematic Reviews. Elisa graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor with a Master of Information and Library Science, and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

Judy Kraemer

Judy Kraemer, MLIS, MBA is the Consumer Health Librarian in the Anaheim Public Library system. Judy served as the solo Medical Librarian at the Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center for five years and directed the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center library for nine years. Before working in hospital libraries, she worked as a Medical Librarian/Department Manager/Library Director at USC, CSULA, WesternU, City of Hope, First Consulting Group, and Baxter Healthcare. Judy joined MLGSCA in 1992 after graduating from UCLA with her MLIS. She has served as a Joint Meeting Co-chair, Technology Symposium Co-chair, and on various committees including Professional Issues, Government Relations, and ILL EFTS Sub-Committee. She is finishing serving three years in the President-Elect, President, and Past-President series. Judy would now like to serve MLGSCA by representing MLGSCA member interests for a second time at MLA Chapter Council meetings with the goal of serving on the MLA Board in the position of Chapter Council Chair.

Andrea Lynch

Andrea Lynch, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1631-7171, serves as the scholarly communication librarian and is a member of the Center for Informatics Division of Library Services team at City of Hope in Duarte, California. Andrea received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from UC Berkeley, and her master’s degree from the UCLA Graduate School of Library and Information Studies. She began her professional career at the UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library as a Health & Life Sciences Librarian responsible for research assistance, information literacy, and collection management. Most recently, Andrea served on the MLGSCA Nominating Committee 2021-23.