August 20, 2007
Fighting stigma and raising funds will be among the top priorities for Billy Kirkpatrick, who is taking the helm as executive director of West Alabama AIDS Outreach. He replaces Mona Ochoa-Horsham, who left this summer after leading the agency for a decade. Kirkpatrick holds degrees in psychology and community counseling from the University of Alabama. His past experience includes work at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Tuscaloosa and in the autism program at the Brewer-Porch Children's Center, and he served two years on the board of WAAO. "The stigma is still so huge here, and it affects our funding," Kirkpatrick said. A key issue will be growing the base of donors: "It's not an expanding group of people, and there are going to have to be more people who contribute if we are going to grow and continue helping everyone who needs help," he said.