Kathie has served locally as Co-Chair of the local Ryan White Consortium, as well as a two-year term as President of the Metropolitan Birmingham Services for the Homeless, Birmingham’s local Continuum of Care for homeless services. Kathie is a member of the Governor of Alabama’s HIV Task Force, the Alabama HIV/AIDS Policy Partnership, United Way of Central Alabama Council of Executive Directors, and the AIDS Service Organization Network of Alabama. Kathie leads the HIV advocacy efforts for the State of Alabama, educating legislators on the state’s HIV/AIDS policy issues, promoting legislative investment in the HIV/AIDS portfolio, and implementing an annual Awareness Day in the state’s Capitol in which hundreds of HIV-positive persons, advocates, and policy makers gather to highlight the extreme need for resources to fight the HIV epidemic in Alabama. Additionally, AIDS Alabama sponsors a Teen Advocacy Day in Montgomery. Each year Kathie provides a workshop for the University of Alabama at Birmingham Sparkman Program for visiting physicians from across the globe to orient them on the HIV epidemic in the southern United States. Kathie has been called upon for guidance on the development of state advocacy networks in the District of Columbia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Nationally, Kathie was the only southerner selected in 2010 by President Obama to serve on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, where she was Co-Chair of the Disparities Committee. She served as Co-Chair for the Southern AIDS Coalition from 2004 through early 2009 and currently serves as their policy chair. Kathie is the current President of the board
Several national periodicals, including HIV Plus, Poz, The Washington Blade, The Houston Blade, Positive Populations, Mother Jones, the Progressive, Marie Claire, Congressional Quarterly, and Southern Voice, have published interviews with Kathie. Her work in Alabama has been covered in Jacob Levenson’s book, The Secret Epidemic: The Story of AIDS and Black America. Kathie’s efforts on the Ryan White Reauthorization have also been highlighted in Andrew Skerritt’s Ashamed to Die. Kathie co-authored the housing portions of the Southern States Manifesto, which addressed the emerging HIV/AIDS crisis in the southern portion of the United States in 2003; she also co-authored the Southern States Manifesto: Update 2008, which was featured as the headline story on MSNBC in July 2008, as well as in media across the country. Kathie is currently featured in a documentary,
Kathie is frequently called upon to speak on AIDS housing, advocacy, and service issues. She is a recognized subject matter expert on Ryan White. She has been a featured speaker
In 2014, Kathie received the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) Individual Champion of the year. In September, she received the Research and Hope “HIV/AIDS Community Champion” Award from PhRMA.
Kathie is a graduate of the University of South Alabama with a BA in English.