03/17/11 Public Health Leader New AIDS Project RI Executive Director    Thomas E. Bertrand, MPH, of Providence, has been named executive director of AIDS Project RI, a leading provider of an array of services to persons living with HIV/AIDS in the Ocean State. Mr. Bertrand, who has worked 20 years in public health, comes to the position from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, where he spent six years as director of the Division of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention and HIV/AIDS Surveillance, and most recently as program director for the Division of Emergency Medicine Research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He’s a former assistant division director of the Rhode Island Department of Health’s Division of Disease Control and Prevention, and former chief administrator of the state’s Office of Communicable Disease. On a national level, Mr. Bertrand has held leadership positions on the board of the National Coalition of STD Directors. His degrees include a master’s in Public Health in Epidemiology from the State University of New York, Albany, and an undergraduate degree in biology from Vassar College. “I look forward to partnering with other service organizations, as well as state agencies, in ensuring that people with HIV/AIDS are provided the quality services they deserve.”  He added, “It is my vision to strengthen and promote the many programs AIDS Project RI offers to people with HIV/AIDS to help them lead healthy and fulfilling lives.”    AIDS Project RI, a division of Family Service of Rhode Island, has served persons living with HIV/AIDS for a quarter century.  It merged with Family Service of Rhode in 2008.   One of Mr. Bertrand’s first projects is the upcoming Dining Out for Life event Thursday, April 28.  Participating restaurants from across the state will be donating a portion of their proceeds to AIDS Project RI.  More information is available at www.aidsprojectri.org.   (end)