Lazaro Arturo Spindola, MD, MPH

Executive Director
The Nebraska Latino American Commission

Lazaro Arturo Spindola was born in Cuba, and when he was nine his family moved to Venezuela where he completed his education and went to medical school, eventually becoming a trauma and orthopedic surgeon. He came to the U.S. in 1996 and in 1998 moved to Nebraska. By this time, Dr. Spindola had stopped practicing medicine and had gone full time into public health. For the next 10 years he was the minority Health Coordinator of the East Central District Health Department in Columbus, NE, served in the Minority Health Advisory Council in which he is currently chairman, the Nebraska HIV/AIDS prevention consortium, the UNO School of Public Health Advisory Committee, and several others.

Dr. Spindola was one of the first medical interpreter trainers in Nebraska, an activity that he continues at Southeast Community College and collaborates actively with NATI (Nebraska Association of Translators and Interpreters).  He also collaborates with the Office of Health Disparities and Health Equity. Dr. Spindola has been a speaker in several national, regional and local conferences. In May 2010, he became the Executive Director of Nebraska's Latino American Commission (formerly Mexican American Commission), and continues in this position today.  He plans to implement a modernization of the information technology available and focus on a holistic and comprehensive approach to tackle the issues faced by the growing Latino community in Nebraska.