Nashville CARES, a 34-year-old HIV/AIDS service organization, has a new chief executive officer. In mid-April, Amna Osman, MPA, will take the leadership role when Joseph Interrante retires after 25 years of service.

Osman will arrive in Tennessee from the Greater Detroit area, where she has over 20 years of experience as a public health leader with extensive knowledge in program management. According to a CARES press release, most of Osman’s career has involved HIV/AIDS organizations, where she has held positions ranging from case manager to executive director.

The Nashville CARES Board of Directors appointed Osman after a three-month national search. “We are so fortunate to have found someone with Amna’s breadth of knowledge and experience,” said CARES board president Joe Burchfield in the press release. “We are thrilled to welcome Amna to Nashville and the CARES family. This is an exciting time for the agency and we look forward to the future with Amna.”

“It is a pleasure and honor to join Nashville CARES,” added Osman, who will soon complete her doctoral work in leadership and change from Antioch University. “I look forward to working with dedicated and committed colleagues to advance CARES’ mission and continue serving people living with HIV/AIDS, and those at-risk in the Middle Tennessee community.”

Joe Interrante Nashville CARES

Joe InterranteCourtesy of Nashville CARES

In related news, Interrante will receive the Linda Christie and William F. Moynihan Lifetime Achievement Award on March 26 for his work with Nashville Cares. The honor is given by the Tennessee Conference on Social Welfare (TCSW), a statewide nonprofit.

“Joseph’s leadership around the expansion of Ryan White funding and the creation of the grant planning council 10 years ago resulted in a dramatic increase in dollars for services to people living with HIV/AIDS in Middle Tennessee,” Paula D. Foster, executive director of TCSW, said in a separate CARES press release.

“Nashville CARES’ constant focus on quality services and program innovation has positively impacted the lives of those they serve,” Foster said. “Joseph’s legacy will continue to be apparent as CARES provides services to their clients that improve their quality of life.”

The 2015 POZ 100 fold-out cover

In 2015, Interrante was named to the POZ 100, which honored long-term survivors. You can read about the 2015 POZ 100 here. Interrante’s profile from that issue read:

Joseph was already deeply involved in progressive politics and the LGBT movement when his partner died of AIDS-related complications in 1983. It was then, two years before he tested positive himself, that Joseph decided to make HIV his life’s work. He fought the epidemic in Boston and Cleveland for 10 years before moving to Tennessee to join Nashville CARES. Today he is CEO of the community-based organization. He is also deeply involved in the broader HIV community, volunteering at AIDS United, the Southern AIDS Coalition and the Southern AIDS Strategy Initiative. In 2014, the Human Rights Campaign honored the 30-year veteran of the fight with an Equality Award.