Katharine Allen is the co-President of InterpretAmerica, which hosts annual international summits on interpreting and provides an international forum for advances in the field. She is also owner of Chatterbox, LLC. A native of the United States, she lives in California.

Katharine holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Community Development from Brown University and a Master’s Degree in Translation and Interpretation (MATI) from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS, now the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey). A practicing interpreter and translator, she provides interpreter training, curriculum development and language access consulting services.

She is an instructor for the Glendon College Masters of Conference Interpreting Program at York University, Toronto. She has also taught medical interpreting Train the Facilitator workshops at MIIS with Hollly Mikkelson and for professional interpreting associations.

She is a co-developer of medical interpreting curricula for large healthcare organizations, programs for victim services interpreting, indigenous interpreters, as well as for military programs targeting global health and disaster relief efforts.

Katharine is currently lead developer of Indigenous Identities: Interpreting for Indigenous Communities, a 60+-hour training program, manual and workbook for Indigenous Interpreting+.

Through InterpretAmerica, Katharine co-organizes national and international conferences related to the interpreting field, including the bi-annual InterpretAmerica Summit, think! Interpreting for the GALA Annual Conference, Lenguas held in Mexico and others.

Katharine blogs regularly, publishes in the field and speaks and keynotes across the United States and internationally. She served
 on the Board of the California Healthcare Interpreting Association from 2002 through 2009, including a two-year term as President.

Katharine is co-author of:
The Community Interpreter(R): An International Textbook
The Medical Interpreter - A Foundation Textbook for Medical Interpreting