Introducing the newest members of the Southern AIDS Coalition Family!
The Southern AIDS Coalition has grown in recent months! To experience such organizational transformation in these challenging times has required our team to stretch and strategize. While we continue to pivot to deliver virtual programs and effectively support our partners in the region, we are also building our muscles as a team. Meet the newest members of our team, who each bring expertise, passion, and big ideas to our work!
Ana Paula Duarte
Health Policy Associate
These experiences ignited a passion for the work in health policy and helped her realize how important policies are to improve the health of communities, and how it can decrease health disparities among populations. In the past year, Ana worked in a project with Grady Memorial Hospital and Emory Medical School on the evaluation of Grady’s PrEP clinic, focusing on medication adherence and barriers to PrEP treatment. Additionally, she worked in an app development project, focused on PrEP locator clinics specifically for the Latinx MSM population in Atlanta. Ana joined the Southern AIDS Coalition as a Health Policy Associate in July. She is excited to join SAC and work on policies that focus on HIV/AIDS, social determinants of health, and social justice aspects that will contribute to efforts to End the HIV Epidemic.
Darnell Barrington
Director of Health Department Initiatives
One of Darnell’s major goals is to bring a culture of care to every entity that he’s able to work with. In this work, he believes it is paramount to keep the clients and communities that we impact at the center, this should be the only focus. Along with increased education, he says that improved access and overall systemic change are what is going to ultimately end the HIV epidemic; and he wants to contribute his skills and abilities to this goal.
Marcel Byrd
Capacity Building Associate
Marcel is a public health advocate bringing several years of experience exploring the intersection of HIV prevention, harm reduction, and health equity. Prior to joining the Southern AIDS Coalition as a Capacity Building Associate, Marcel was working as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador and before as the Racial and Gender Justice Fellow at the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD). Marcel is originally from Atlanta, GA and has a bachelor’s degree in Social Policy & Gender Studies from Northwestern University.
Nichole Davis
Director of Finance
Her goal at SAC is based on her belief that leadership is about motivating and empowering others to succeed. Her objective is to ensure that she creates an administrative and financial foundation for SAC that will allow the team to solely focus on doing the work in the community and being successful in ending the HIV epidemic in the South.
Torrie Shepard
Media Coordinator
As someone living with Crohn’s disease, she understands the importance of community and access to health resources that can change someone’s life for the better. She believes our health matters & wants to share resources through SAC’s platform that shows how people are thriving with HIV & in communities heavily impacted by HIV. Her goal as the Media Coordinator for the Southern AIDS Coalition is to create and implement a content strategy that reflects the five key points to the mission: (1) intersectional advocacy, (2) capacity building assistance, (3) leadership development and education, (4) research and evaluation, and (5) strategic grantmaking.