BASHH HIV Masterclass 2025
The HIV Masterclass is back for 2025 with a two day face to face meeting. This year’s event will challenge delegates with complex clinical scenarios while reinforcing the core fundamentals of HIV care. In addition to our usual in-depth content, we’re introducing powerful new sessions focused on equipping you with the knowledge to better support people living with HIV from marginalized communities.
And that’s not all—this year, your ticket includes an exclusive sit-down dinner at the same venue, offering the perfect opportunity to connect with peers and speakers in a relaxed setting.
The hotel boasts excellent transport links, making your journey seamless.
The registration fee includes access to the two - day meeting and an evening sit down meal on Thursday 27th March 2025.
Check out the programme here to discover our outstanding lineup of speakers. Trust us, this is one event you won’t want to miss!
If you wish to book accomodation at the Arden Hotel, where the conference is taking place, please contact the hotel directly to secure a discounted rate of £123.65 per night. To receive the discount, quote the code GA003107 when booking by phone. You will not be able to use this unique code by booking online.
Click HERE to view our draft programme - please note that this is a preliminary version and may be subject to change as the event approaches
OUR SPONSORS
**Disclaimer** Sponsors have had no input into the content of the agenda or the choice/briefing of any speakers. In return for their sponsorship, sponsors have received exhibition space, sponsored symposia and other marketing opportunities.
Gilead Sciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company that has pursued and achieved breakthroughs in medicine for more than three decades, with the goal of creating a healthier world for all people. The company is committed to advancing innovative medicines to prevent and treat life-threatening diseases, including HIV, viral hepatitis, COVID-19, and cancer. Gilead operates in more than 35 countries worldwide, with headquarters in Foster City, California.
For more than 30 years, Gilead has been a leading innovator in the field of HIV, driving advances in treatment, prevention, testing and linkage to care, and cure research. Today, millions of people living with HIV globally receive antiretroviral therapy provided by Gilead or one of the company’s manufacturing partners.
URL: https://www.gilead.co.uk/
Gilead Speakers
Gabby Monk
Qualified as a Registered Nurse in 1997. For the past 25 years she has been working in Sexual Health, Contraception and HIV. Gabby is currently practising as a Sexual Health Nurse Practitioner for Outreach and Young People in West London, with the priority of engaging communities that would struggle to attend clinic based Sexual Health services. Gabby is a Non-medical Prescriber and has a BSc in Specialist Community Public Health Nursing. Gabby works hard to raise awareness of inequity in care particularly in relation to HIV prevention in women.
Victoria Roscow
A 31 year old mum from Manchester who was diagnosed with HIV while she was 9 weeks pregnant. She commenced treatment (ART) immediately and became undetectable within 3 weeks of starting treatment, and as such gave birth to a healthy HIV-negative baby boy with her husband, who is also HIV-negative. Following this shock diagnosis, she eventually took to TikTok to emotionally process her new diagnosis, educate people about HIV transmission, treatment and prevention, and work towards destigmatising this chronic health condition.
Ellie Harrison
Diagnosed with HIV at the age of 21 from a routine home STI test in 2018. Just 3 years later, she became a public speaker to help tackle HIV stigma and improve education.
Louise Logan
Government affairs team, Gilead Sciences
At MSD, known as Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA in the United States and Canada, we are unified around our purpose: We use the power of leading-edge science to save and improve lives around the world. For more than 130 years, we have brought hope to humanity through the development of important medicines and vaccines. We aspire to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in the world – and today, we are at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions that advance the prevention and treatment of diseases in people and animals. We foster a diverse and inclusive global workforce and operate responsibly every day to enable a safe, sustainable and healthy future for all people and communities.
For more information, visit www.msd-uk.comand connect with us
@MSDintheUK on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.
URL: www.msd-uk.com
MSD Speakers
Michelle Croston
Dr Michelle Croston has working in HIV care for over 25 years working at national and international level to improve outcomes for people living with HIV. During this time Michelle has developed a special interest in mental health and psychological wellbeing, with a focus on sleep. Michelle holds a clinical fellowship with European Society of Person-Centered Healthcare (ESPCH) Her research focuses on ways to improve psychological wellbeing for people living with HIV. Michelle is the host of the successful podcast HIV Matters. Michelle is also a trustee for a charity called Mini’s Village who aim to improve outcomes for people with HIV/Hep B in Sierra Leone.
Dr Kimberly Forbes
We are ViiV Healthcare: a specialist pharmaceutical company 100% dedicated to HIV medicines and research, and completely focused on people living with HIV and AIDS. In the last 30 years, the world of science and the HIV and AIDS community have worked together to control the HIV epidemic. Right now, we face a new wave of challenges, still… we have to keep going. We are here until HIV and AIDS aren’t.
ViiV Speaker
Dr Matthew Page
Matthew Page is a Consultant in Sexual Health and HIV Medicine at University Hospitals Birmingham. He is currently the Clinical Service Lead for HIV Medicine at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He completed his medical training at the University of Birmingham in 2008. He is the current chair of the BHIVA External Relations committee, and former vice-Chair of the BHIVA Conferences committee. He is a member of BASHH Racially Minoritised Communities and Gender and Sexual Minorities Special interest Group. His interests are in HIV therapies, syphilis, pre-exposure prophylaxis and prevention strategies
Speaker Biographies
Dr Liz Okecha
Dr Liz Okecha is a Consultant in Genitourinary and HIV Medicine as well as Clinical Lead for St Helens Sexual Health, Mersey and West Lancashire NHS Teaching Hospitals. Dr Okecha has recently been appointed key opinion lead for St Helens HIV fast track cities and in early 2024 became Chair of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) HIV & blood borne virus special interest Group and Co-Chair of the BASHH HIV prevention group. Within the Royal College of Physicians, Dr Okecha is the GUM and HIV Representative for the Joint Specialty Committee for Infectious Diseases. She has a keen interest in Education and completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education during her higher specialist training. She is a Faculty Registered Trainer for contraception, STI foundation Trainer for GUM and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Bristol.
Dr Elly Hamlyn
Dr Elly Hamlyn is a consultant in HIV at the Royal Free Hospital in London. She has a special interest in Women’s health and is the HIV antenatal lead in her trust. She also runs a weight loss programme for people living with HIV. She is the Treasurer of the BASHH HIV and BBV special interest group.
Dr Zoe Ottaway
Dr Zoë Ottaway is Specialist Registrar in HIV and Sexual Health at Kings College Hospital, London. She is currently appointed as a Clinical Research Fellow, undertaking her MD(Res) in the HIV and Sexual Health Research Group, within the Department of Infectious Diseases, at Kings College London. Her current research focuses on the impact of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic on people of black ethnicities living with HIV in the United Kingdom. She is BASHH HIV/BBV SIG trainee rep and also sits on the BHIVA ‘not in care’ guidelines writing group.
Alan O'Neil
Alan O’Neill is an International People and Development Advisor with The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and was diagnosed with HIV in 2019. As a lived experience activist for LGBTQIA+ and HIV rights Alan strives to create a world of acceptance and equity, holding onto the hope of one day building a loving family of his own and worked with the National Aids Trust during their campaign for Equal HIV Fertility Rights.
Alan will be sharing his HIV journey, his lifelong desire to have a family of his own, and the impact this discriminatory law had on his acceptance of his diagnosis, as well as how he supported NAT in achieving this historic victory.
Professor Margaret Kingston
Consultant Physician in Genitourinary Medicine for 22 years in tertiary inner city teaching hospital practice, specific clinical areas of expertise; management if syphilis, management of HIV in pregnancy. Chair of the BASHH CEG and lead author of the BASHH guidelines for the management of syphilis and of syphilis in pregnancy. Director of Undergraduate Medical Studies, University of Manchester.
Professor Mary Poulton
Mary is a Consultant in GUM/HIV at Kings College Hospital where she also has a wider role of Risk and Governance Lead for Medicine. Mary has a particular interest in Medical Ethics; she has a Master’s degree in Medical Ethics and Law from Keele University and previously spent 4 years as Caldicott Guardian. She was chair of the BASHH Information Group 2008-12 and has been involved in various policy and guidance development projects relating to confidentiality and criminalisation of HIV transmission on behalf of BHIVA and BASHH.
Dr Killian Quinn
Killian is a Consultant in Sexual Health & HIV / Internal Medicine at King’s College Hospital since 2016. He has a PhD in Virology from Imperial College and is a member of the BHIVA/BASHH PrEP guideline writing group. He has previously worked on HIV vaccine studies, PrEP studies (PROUD, DISCOVER, Impact) and is the local PI for PURPOSE5.
A few lines about what your session is about and any learning outcomes - PrEP beyond Tenofovir – this talk will be looking at the pipeline of new long acting PrEP strategies, experience so far and how they will fit into sexual health delivery in the UK
Dr Miriam Ringshall
Dr Miriam Ringshall is a ST5 registrar in genitourinary medicine in Brighton. Prior to starting higher specialty training in 2023, Miriam has led a project in a rural hospital in Lesotho which aimed to increased HIV-PrEP uptake as part of the NHS England Improving global health fellowships. Following this project she presented this work at BASHH and IUSTI Europe Congress in 2024. She is also the chair of the HIV trainee association (HIVTA) which organise national workshops for trainees working with PLWHIV in order to supplement training programmes
Juddy Otti
Juddy has over 14 years experience of working in the HIV sector on different initiatives in both Hertfordshire and London ranging from HIV prevention (PrEP), providing support for people living with HIV around treatment personal development, and advocacy. In addition, manages service delivery to facilitate, promote, and advocate for the involvement of migrant communities in forming and informing local and national strategy and policy.
Juddy also sits on several national advisory boards including BASHH/BHIVA PrEP guidelines working group, PrEP Equity Working Group, FTC Empowerment programme-community of Practice, and EACS/WAVE Menopause group.
Juddy is very passionate about bringing the migrant community’s issues to the forefront of the HIV agenda as well as advocating for a better understanding of issues affecting women as they age with HIV. She is currently working with Africa Advocacy Foundation and Sophia Forum.
Professor Sanjay Baghani
Sanjay Bhagani is an infectious diseases consultant at the RFH. He has forged influential international collaborations in research in HIV/hepatitis co-infection, and more recently, led the RFL’s in-patient clinical trials for COVID-19 treatments, which featured in the award- winning BBC 2 documentary series, Hospital.
Sanjay’s team continue to be research active, now looking to preparedness for the next pandemic. He is the immediate past-president of the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS), where as president he delivered London’s first major international HIV Conference (EACS 2021, Excel London). At EACS he co-directs the annual EACS HIV summer school and led an initiative to develop the European Diploma in HIV Medicine. He has contributed to a number of national/international guidelines on HIV/viral hepatitis management and is the chair of the European Commission’s Joint Antiviral Advisory Mechanism for the EU-funded platform trials and a member of the trials coordination board for the European Coordination Mechanism for clinical trials in infectious disease. Sanjay has been named professor in clinical infectious disease/HIV medicine.
James Hickmott
Dr James Hickmott is a Consultant Psychiatrist and current Medical Director of 2 Priory Hospital sites supporting NHS patients from the Birmingham area. He completed his higher training in psychiatry with accreditation in “liaison psychiatry” which is interested in the interplay between mental and physical health. During his higher training he restarted the HIV Liaison Psychiatry clinic in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and ran this for 7 years, ensuring it was incorporated into his first consultant role within Birmingham Mental Health trust.
Dr Fionnuala Finnerty
Dr Fionnuala Finnerty is a Consultant in Sexual Health and HIV at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. She was SpR representative on the BASHH Sexual Violence SIG and independent advisor to Refugee Rights Europe. Dr Fionnuala Finnerty was the recipient of a Janssen Exchange Scholarships in collaboration with BHIVA, Barts Health NHS Trust and the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) 2015-16.
Dr Stuart Flannagan
Dr Stuart Flanagan is a Consultant in GU/HIV & Blood Borne Virus (BBV) Medicine at CNWL NHS Trust’s Mortimer Market Centre in Central London, and Honorary Consultant at University College London Hospital. He is the Viral Hepatitis Lead for CNWL Trust, and the NCL ODN Primary Care Lead for Viral Hepatitis. Stuart is also Honorary Associate Professor at University College London. He completed an MD(Res) on Viral Hepatitis testing in Primary Care, and has research interests in Viral Hepatitis, BBV screening, Future HIV Services and Digital Care.
Stuart is the current Chair of the BHIVA Guildelines Subcommittee and past chair of the BASHH HIV/BBV Special Interest Group. He is Clinical Lead for NHS London’ Hepatitis B Pathways Task & Finish Group and Medical Advisor to the board of CAPS-Positive Faith Charity. Stuart has been a medical broadcaster for the BBC (BBC Radio 1 Surgery, CBBC’s Newsround, BBC Breakfast). He has written and presented BBC Radio 4 documentaries including The Path Of Least Resistance, on antimicrobial resistance, available to listen to via BBC Sounds.
Dr Leonard Ebah
Dr Ebah gained his primary medical qualification at l’Université de Yaoundé in Cameroon in 2000. After working as a resident in Internal Medicine and Intensive Care at the CHU de Yaoundé, he moved to the UK to specialize in Nephrology. His specialist training started in 2006, after obtaining MRCP and completing Core medical Training at MRI and the UHSM. He holds a CCT in Nephrology. His research career took off effectively in 2008 when he joined the Renal Research team at MINT (Under the Supervision of Professor Brenchley and Dr Mitra) to carry out research into interstitial uraemic toxicity and fluid overload. He successfully completed his PhD entitled “Extraction and Analysis of Interstitial Fluid and Characterization of the Interstitial Compartment in Kidney Disease” in August 2012 at the University of Manchester. His research was recognized as outstanding and he won The Postgraduate Student of the Year Distinguished Awards Medal. His work has led to patents, international collaborations and a spinout medical device company.
Adam Freedman
I work in policy & public affairs, and enjoy working strategically to influence political stakeholders around a variety of policy issues. My main policy interests are in equality & human rights, discrimination and the impact of Government policy on marginalised communities.
I enjoy project-based working, working collaboratively with colleagues of varied job functions to achieve a multitude of goals. I currently manage a unique project that combines delivery of legal advice on HIV discrimination, with policy and public affairs advocacy to prevent HIV discrimination across all four nations of the United Kingdom.
I also have experience of applying social research methods in the third sector, national government, and in my degree.
Dr Lisa hamzah
Dr Lisa Hamzah has been an HIV and Sexual health consultant at St George’s Hospital since 2019, which covers a large area with referrals of complex cases of HIV from South West London and Surrey. She has active research interests in advanced HIV and complications of HIV. Lisa supports the HIV/BBV SIG as course facilitator for the DipHIV Revision Course. She has no declarations of interest.
Larra Murray
Lara Murray is Spectra's Sex Worker Services and Strategy Lead. Lara joined Spectra as a case worker in 2022 and now manages Spectra's Sex Worker Services team "the Alex team" which provides support, advocacy, mentoring, counselling and outreach to sex workers in London. Lara leads on a project building and developing sex worker agencies coalition building in London. Lara is a trained solicitor (LLB Hons) with over 15 years’ experience as a lawyer and has a background in employment law. As an advocate for sex worker rights in the UK, Lara has enjoyed applying her legal knowledge to questions concerning the labour rights of sex workers.