Sandra L. Thurman was appointed by the President on April 7, 1997 as the Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy at the White House.

For more than a decade, Ms. Thurman has been a leader and advocate for people with AIDS at the local, state, and federal levels.

Most recently, Ms. Thurman served as the Director of the Office of Citizen Exchanges at the United States Information Agency.

From 1993 to 1996 Ms. Thurman was the Director of Advocacy Programs at The Task Force for Child Survival and Development at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. As Director, she focused on the global health concerns of children, including immunization and the eradication of polio.

From 1988 to 1993, Ms. Thurman, of Atlanta, Georgia, served as the Executive Director of AID Atlanta, a community-based nonprofit organization that provides health and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS and offers an array of HIV prevention programs. Under her leadership, AID Atlanta, the largest and oldest AIDS service organization in the south, tripled in size, and became a multimillion dollar, direct-service agency with 90 staff members and more than 1,000 volunteers.

Ms. Thurman was a Member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and of the Georgia State AIDS Task Force, the Fulton County HIV Planning Council, and the Executive Committee of Cities Advocating Emergency AIDS Relief (CAEAR). She has also served on the Board of Directors of the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition, AID Atlanta, Sisterlove, Inc., and the Atlanta AIDS Interfaith Network, among others. She is a recognized expert on AIDS issues and has provided testimony before the United States Senate, the White House Conference on HIV/AIDS, and the National Commission on AIDS.

Ms. Thurman earned a Bachelor's degree from Mercer University.

Comments by Sandra Thurman to the annual meeting of the US Conference of Mayors

Comments by Sandra Thurman to the 10th Annual National AIDS Update Conference (March 25, 1998)

Comments by Sandra Thurman to the Annie E. Casey Foundation on HIV/AIDS and families (December 11, 1997)