Pearson's Comprehensive Medical Assisting: Administrative and Clinical Competencies

About our authors

Kristiana D. Routh, RMA (AMT), is a registered medical assistant through American Medical Technologists. She has worked in the health care field for over 20 years and has a passion for watching the field of medical assisting grow and develop. Her experience in medical assisting education includes teaching, curriculum development, working closely with accrediting bodies and writing multiple textbook and supplemental resources for both instructors and students. Kristiana also owns her own business, Allied Health Consulting Services. Her business focuses on accreditation trends throughout health care, writing and developing educational content in the field of medical assisting and project management services for physicians and health care facilities. Kristiana lives near Lake Erie in Pennsylvania with her three children.

Jennifer Lamé, MPH, RHIT, is an AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer with over 25 years of experience in health information management (HIM) and coding. She worked as a coder and coding consultant for many years before moving into the world of teaching. She has been teaching for over 15 years and has taught primarily in HIM and coding programs. Jennifer’s understanding of coding and what coders need to know in order to have a successful career is what convinced her to coauthor this book. She is a long-term member of both AHIMA and IdHIMA. She has served as a reviewer of many coding, medical terminology and health reimbursement texts. Jennifer is also an author of various supplemental materials, including instructor resources, PowerPoint® lecture slides and test bank items for coding, health reimbursement and medical terminology products.

Joseph Mistovich is retired as chairperson of the Department of Health Professions and a professor at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. He has over 38 years of experience as an educator in emergency medical services. Mr. Mistovich received his Master of Education degree in community health education from Kent State University in 1988. He completed a Bachelor of Science degree in applied science with a major in allied health in 1985, and an Associate in Applied Science degree in emergency medical technology in 1982 from Youngstown State University. Mr. Mistovich is an author or coauthor of numerous EMS books and journal articles and is a frequent presenter at national and state EMS conferences.

Jahangir Moini, MD, MPH, was assistant professor at Tehran University School of Medicine for nine years, teaching medical and allied health students. The author was also professor (for 24 years) and director (for 15 years) of allied health programs at Everest University, including the medical assisting program. Dr. Moini was also physician liaison for the American Association of Medical Assistants in Florida and an advisory member of NACCAS. He is now a retired professor of science and health at Eastern Florida State College. He is an internationally published author of 46 textbooks, since 1999.

Jaime Nguyen, MD, MPH, MS, has over 20 years of experience in health care, compliance and research, and she has managed several allied health education and training programs. She is currently Director of Allied Health Programs at Penn Foster Education and is Owner and President of 3MD Education. Jaime has authored, edited and contributed to several health care textbooks. Before entering education, Jaime was the medical director and chief compliance officer for a biopharmaceutical marketing and research company. She was also a public health analyst/fellow in the Division of Medicine and Dentistry in the Department of Health and Human Services, where she conducted research and analysis on physician workforce and training issues, including how to strengthen the K-12 pipeline for underrepresented minorities. During her time at HHS, she also served on two federal advisory boards, Council on Graduate Medical Education and the Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry. Jaime has a medical degree, a Master of Public Health and a Master of Science in Medicinal Chemistry. Her focus is on global health and medicine and public health, and she spent several years working in Israel, Ethiopia and Indonesia on health care initiatives. Jaime worked in a family medicine clinic in Nashville, Tennessee, and at the Allegheny County Health Department in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Diana Garza received her Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, followed by an additional year to complete her medical laboratory science certification requirements at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Her interest in laboratory sciences and in teaching led her to earn a Master in Science Education degree at the Peabody School of Vanderbilt University. Dr. Garza worked at Vanderbilt Medical Center in the Microbiology Department while a graduate student. A move back to her home state of Texas led her to a collaborative graduate program with Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Houston, and resulted in her Doctorate of Education in allied health education and administration, all while she worked in the microbiology laboratory at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC). Dr. Garza’s laboratory and teaching experience continued at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and for many years at MDACC, where she later became the administrative director of the Division of Laboratory Medicine. Dr. Garza has been involved in national and international phlebotomy courses for technologists, nurses and physicians. She has developed numerous curriculum materials, and in 1984 published one of the first comprehensive textbooks focused solely on phlebotomy practices. A successful coauthoring partnership (with Dr. Kathleen Becan McBride) for Phlebotomy Handbook, Blood Collection Essentials and other textbooks has endured for over three decades. In 1990, Dr. Garza joined the faculty of Texas Woman’s University-Houston Center, where she taught online quality improvement courses, was tenured and became editor of several journals and continuing education publications. She has taught extensively, been a reviewer/inspector in many regulatory processes, participated in accreditation procedures and continues to author, edit and publish numerous manuscripts in the field of phlebotomy. Dr. Garza has served on numerous health care advisory boards, as a board member for many nonprofit health care organizations and on nationwide committees in the field of laboratory medicine, including those for certification examinations and accrediting committees, and as a consultant for companies and health care organizations. She continues her writing and editorial pursuits primarily in the field of phlebotomy.