Did you know that your LIS/iSchool graduate students can now earn a Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS) certification by taking your class? You now have the opportunity to have your consumer health-related course CHIS certified through a unique partnership with the Medical Library Association (MLA) and the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM).  

This 1-hour webinar will give an overview of the NNLM Consumer Health Information Specialization for Library Students program, the benefits of offering certificates to students, and the step-by-step process on how to apply to offer CHIS certificates for your class.  

We'll be joined by guest speaker Brenda Linares, the Associate Dean of Library Services at UMKC Libraries at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), and Maggie Hairabedian, a recent MLS graduate of Emporia State University. Brenda will share her success story in teaching CHIS-certified courses, while Maggie will share her experience receiving a CHIS certification through her LIS program.  

Brenda was previously the School of Nursing liaison at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Brenda received her bachelor’s in finance from California State University, Northridge. She also has a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Master of Business Administration from North Carolina State University. She is a member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP).   

She loves working and building relationships with students, faculty, researchers, and the community. Brenda currently serves on the Medical Library Association (MLA) Board of Directors. She recently started her term as President of the Medical Library Association (2024-2025). She has worked with diverse populations promoting health literacy and consumer health education. Her interests include outreach, consumer health, instruction and technology, health literacy, patient education and evidence-based research, mentoring, DEI, and leadership and management.  Her extensive expertise and experience as a health sciences librarian has provided her with the opportunity to teach as an adjunct instructor for Emporia State School of Library and Information Management (SLIM) where she has taught courses on Information Seeking Behavior, Consumer Health, and Health Sciences Librarianship. She has also taught some similar courses at the University of Tennessee -Knoxville School of Information Sciences.