Welcome Dr. Shannon Hader

DC Fights Back issued the following press release following the announcement in the Washington Blade that Dr. Hader has been appointed the new Director of the DC HIV/AIDS Administration

Washington, DC – August 7, 2007 – DC Fights Back, a grassroots HIV/AIDS advocacy organization in DC, congratulates Dr. Shannon Lee Hader for her appointment as the new Director of the HIV/AIDS Administration (HAA) of the District of Columbia Department of Health. DC Fights Back co-chairs Larry Bryant and George Kerr welcome Dr. Hader, and stress the importance of an HIV/AIDS Administration that listens to and is responsive to the local community.

Dr. Shannon Hader earned an M.D. at Columbia University and trained in internal medicine and pediatrics at Duke University Medical School and in infectious diseases at Emory University Hospitals. She succeeds Dr. Marsha Martin, who left the position when Mayor Adrian Fenty took office in January, 2007. The Director of the Department of Health, Gregg Pane, has been juggling the HIV/AIDS administration along with his other responsibilities for the past seven months.

DC Fights Back co-chair Larry Bryant states: "As a member of the community, we look forward to working with Dr. Hader and the Health Department to develop a plan that fully and effectively addresses the HIV/AIDS epidemic in DC. As an HIV positive resident of the District, I am encouraged that there is there is now someone heading the HIV/AIDS Administration, especially considering that DC has a higher HIV rate and higher AIDS-related death rate than any state in the union.”

Co-chair George Kerr states “With many unresolved issues at the HIV/AIDS administration, Dr. Hader has taken on a challenging position. We welcome the appointment of a full-time director of the HIV/AIDS Administration, and look forward to dialogue with Dr. Hader.”

DC Fights Back is a network of people living with HIV/AIDS and their allies working to engage ourselves and our communities in every aspect of HIV advocacy to ensure the best possible treatment and care for people living with HIV/AIDS; and the best possible science-based HIV prevention.