View source for Kathie Hiers

[[Image:Kathie Hiers.jpg|right|thumb|Kathie Hiers]]
'''Kathie M. Hiers''' (born [[October 5]], [[1954]] in Mobile) is chief executive officer of [[AIDS Alabama]].

Hiers earned her bachelor's degree in English at the University of South Alabama in Mobile in [[1978]]. She founded the Lee Simmons Fund for People Living with AIDS in Mobile and served as executive director of Mobile AIDS Support Services from [[1997]] to [[2001]] before coming to [[Birmingham]] to head AIDS Alabama.

Hiers has also co-chaired the local Ryan White Consortium and served a two-year term as president of the [[Metropolitan Birmingham Services for the Homeless]]. She is a member of the Governor of Alabama's HIV Task Force, the Alabama HIV/AIDS Policy Partnership and the AIDS Service Organization Network of Alabama.

Hiers is an active advocate on HIV/AIDS policy issues and organizes an annual awareness day in Montgomery as well as workshops at [[UAB]] for visiting physicians. She also participates as a regional coordinator for AIDSWatch in Washington D. C. She has been consulted in the development of similar advocacy networks in several other states. She co-authored portions of the "Southern States Manifesto" in [[2003]], updated in [[2008]].

From [[2004]] to [[2009]] Hiers co-chaired the Southern AIDS Coalition and is now president of the board of the National AIDS Housing Coalition and a member of the Federal AIDS Policy Partnership and the Community AIDS National Network. In [[2010]] Hiers was appointed to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) and co-chairs the Disparities Committee.

Hiers' work was featured in Jacob Levenson's 2005 book ''The Secret Epidemic: The Story of AIDS and Black America''.

==References==
* Levenson, Jacob (2005) ''The Secret Epidemic: The Story of AIDS and Black America.'' Anchor Books. ISBN 0385722346
* Orndorff, Mary (February 2, 2010) "Birmingham AIDS expert on new presidential panel." ''Birmingham News''

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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Social activists]]
[[Category:Nonprofit executives]]