AIDS Action
leader tapped to head D.C. AIDS efforts

Marsha Martin, executive director of the national advocacy group AIDS Action, has been tapped to head the District of Columbia's HIV/AIDS Administration after its former director, Lydia Watts, was fired earlier this month, The Washington Post reports. The HIV/AIDS Administration has come under fire in recent months for its response to the AIDS epidemic in the district, including how federal money was spent and accounted for, how quickly area organizations were reimbursed for providing AIDS services, and for poor coordination of district-wide HIV prevention and service efforts.

Martin had served as executive director of AIDS Action since 2002. Prior to that she served as a special assistant on AIDS policy former Health and Human Services secretary Donna Shalala. She will assume her new position with the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration on September 7.

District mayor Anthony Williams said, "Ms. Martin brings with her a wealth of knowledge and considerable expertise in the field of HIV/AIDS," the Post reports. "She has the skills that are needed to move the agency forward."