Absolute Quality Interpreting (AQI) Services
Anna McDuffie
B.S., CI/CT, SC:L, NIC, Core Certified Healthcare Interpreting
A native of Atlanta, Georgia, she graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science in Interpreting for the Deaf. After graduation, she moved to Boston, where she worked as a staff interpreter at The Learning Center for Deaf Children, a bilingual/bicultural school for the Deaf. She also worked part-time at Boston University as an interpreter for various graduate programs. Anna returned to Atlanta in 1999 and has been working as a freelance interpreter for the past 21 years. She earned a Certificate of Interpretation and Certificate of Transliteration from RID in 1999, the Specialist Certificate: Legal from RID in 2008, and the National Interpreter Certification (NIC) from RID in 2011. Anna began teaching medical interpreting workshops with her co-presenter, Heather Brown, in 2008 and is very passionate about standardizing best practices for medical and legal interpreting.
Additionally, they published an article in a nationally peer-reviewed medical journal entitled Health Care Providers and the Americans with Disabilities Act in the Journal of the American Association of Physician Assistants in January 2011. She also teaches workshops on legal interpreting. Anna currently lives in Marietta, Georgia, with her husband, Eric. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her step-daughter, Cece, her fur kids, Lola and Pippa, traveling, and playing tennis.
Heather Brown
DMSc, PA-C, DFAAPA
A native of Washington, DC, she received her undergraduate degree in Clinical Psychology from Western Maryland College in 1995, with Summa Cum Laude honors and was awarded a Phi Beta Kappa Key. She then attended George Washington University for her PA training, matriculating in 1998. After that, she graduated with honors with a Master of Science in Health Sciences and a Certificate of Physician Assistant Studies in 2000. She completed her doctoral degree at the University of Lynchburg in 2019. She began working clinically as a Physician Assistant, practicing Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland Medical System in Baltimore.
Heather moved to Atlanta, GA, and joined Mercer University in 2011 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies. In 2020, she became the Director of Clinical Education as an Associate Professor at Brenau University in Georgia. She continues to work in both urgent care and emergency medicine in the Atlanta, GA, area. Heather owns her own healthcare consulting company, presenting workshops and trainings across the country and working as a Medical-Legal Expert.
In 2013, the American Association of Physician Assistants awarded Heather the Distinguished Fellow Award. She has presented at both local and national conferences, holds a patent with the US Patent Office, and has published many articles in nationally peer-reviewed journals, including Health Care Providers and the Americans with Disabilities Act in the Journal of the American Association of Physician Assistants in January of 2014, The History and Implications of EMTALA in the Journal of Emergency Nursing in 2019, and The Use of Interpreters for Deaf Patients and Patients with Limited English Proficiency, in June of 2020, also in Journal of the American Association of Physician Assistants. Heather enjoys outdoor activities in her free time, including hiking, traveling, cooking, and spending time with her husband, Thomas, and her two boxers, Millie and Avery.
