President

Dr Cara Saxon

Cara is a consultant in Genitourinary and HIV medicine at the Sandyford Sexual Health Services and The Brownlee Centre in Glasgow. Cara trained in Genitourinary Medicine in the North West of England and worked as a consultant in the Greater Manchester area for 9 years before relocating to Scotland in February 2023. As clinical lead for two Manchester services and now for GUM in Glasgow, Cara has firsthand experience of working in the healthcare systems of two nations. She has led services through multiple tenders, integrations of sexual health services, the PrEP IMPACT Trial, COVID-19 pandemic, Mpox outbreak and the gonorrhoea vaccine role out. Cara has led work on asymptomatic LGV in the UK and is lead author of the 2019 BASHH guidelines on the Management of Vulvovaginal Candidiasis. 

Cara has been an active member of BASHH throughout her career including previous North West BASHH NAG Chair, BASHH Clinical Effectiveness Group member 2018-2026, BASHH PIL editor 2018-2025 and BASHH General Secretary 2024-2026.  She has contributed to the LoveGUM recruitment campaign, appointment of BASHH's first CEO, the new website development, and the organisations first EEDI review. 

CEO

Kat Smithson

Kat is the CEO of BASHH. Kat has over 10 years’ experience in sexual health and HIV. She joins BASHH from National AIDS Trust, the HIV rights organisation, as Director of their policy and communications functions. She has led multiple cross-organisational research and advocacy programmes was an NGO representative on the Fast Track Cities London Leadership Group for five years.

Immediate Past President

Professor Matt Phillips

Matt is a GUM consultant in Cumbria and an honorary professor of GUM & Ethics at UCLan.  Originally from Birmingham, his medical degree is from Manchester, his Master’s is from Keele and his MD from Trinity College Dublin.  Throughout his career he has focussed on ethics, in particular its applications to sexual health and HIV.  He sits on the BMJ Ethics committee and is a regional adviser for the Royal College of Physicians.

Vice President

Dr Chris Ward

Chris is a consultant in Sexual Health and HIV at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. He has an MSc in Public Health and a PGCert in Postgraduate Medical Education.

He has a special interest in chemsex and PrEP and leads for both for Manchester. He also has an interest in the development of services for young people, chairing safeguarding MDTs, and has contributed nationally to Child Sexual Exploitation developments, particularly in boys.

He is a Diploma of HIV examiner, is part of the BHIVA external relations subcommittee, and has been the BASHH Conference and Communications Secretary for the last 2 years.

Treasurer

Dr Anne Oliver

Anne qualified from Leicester University Medical School in 2000, and went on to train with the West Yorkshire Vocational Training Scheme. She has worked in Sexual Health as a Specialty Doctor since 2006 and has been a BASHH member for over ten years. Her career as an SAS doctor has given her the opportunity to work clinically whilst developing interests in medical education and staff wellbeing.

She joined the BASHH SAS Executive Committee in 2018 and now serves as a regional representative. She is also the current Chair of the SAS Conference Organising Committee and a member of the Spring Conference Organising Committee.

General Secretary

Dr Clare Wood

Clare Wood has been a consultant in Genitourinary Medicine since 2021 and works at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. She studied in Sheffield and undertook her specialist training in Greater Manchester. 

She has an interest in medical education and recurrent vulvovaginitis.

Assistant General Secretary

Dr Rona MacDonald

Rona (FRCP, MFSRH, MPH) is a consultant in sexual health and HIV based in Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Ayrshire and Arran. She was previously a consultant and clinical director of Sexual Health Services in Gloucestershire. She was the Chair of the Sexual Health Standards for Healthcare Improvement Scotland. Rona previously sat as Chair of the Clinical Governance Committee and currently sits on the STI Foundation Committee and the BASHH/ FSRH Information Group.

Education Committee Chair

Prof Matthew Grundy-Bowers

Consultant Nurse/Visiting Professor (HIV/Integrated Sexual Health)

Matthew has worked in HIV/Integrated Sexual Health since 1994 and in advanced practice roles since 1997. He became a consultant nurse (HIV/Sexual Health) at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in 2005, Trust Lead for Advancing Practice in 2018. He was one of the first tranche of the National Institute for Health Research doctoral clinical fellows in 2010, his PhD research explored sexual risk-taking among HIV negative gay men. Matthew is Visiting Professor of HIV and Integrated Sexual Health at University of Greenwich, and is on the editorial board of the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. He is the new chair of the Education Committee and Officer to the board of the British Association of Sexual Health & HIV. He is a former STI Foundation chair and executive member of the National HIV Nurses Association. In 2020, he was awarded the prestigious Fellowship of the RCN for his contribution to HIV/Sexual Health, advanced clinical practice, and interdisciplinary education.

Conference and Communications Secretary

Nathan Burley

Nathan is a pharmacist in public health protection and sexual health services in Glasgow. He is a visiting lecturer at the University of Strathclyde and Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Nathan has been pharmacist representative to the BASHH Clinical Governance Committee for the past two years.

Clinical Governance Committee Chair

Dr Malika Mohabeer Hart

Malika Mohabeer Hart is a consultant physician in sexual health and HIV in Wandsworth, London, with Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust and St George’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She trained in GU/HIV at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and spent a year in her native Mauritius in 2018 working with an HIV non-profit organisation as HIV physician and medical adviser, before being appointed to her current substantive post.

She was service director for her service from 2019-2021 and is now clinical governance lead and leads on PrEP. She is also GUM core specialty lead at City St George’s University of London Medical School.

She has been BASHH CGC Chair for the South West Thames region since 2022 and has set up a regional consultant network and a recurrent sexual health education event for local GPs.

Her interests are in recurrent vulvovaginitis, medical education, sustainability, and advocating for sexual health services.

Academic Fellow To The Board

Professor Claudia Estcourt

Claudia is Professor of Sexual Health & HIV at Glasgow Caledonian University, Honorary Professor at University College London and a consultant physician in Glasgow, UK. Her research addresses three major public health priorities:

1). Self-managed, digital healthcare, focussing on development and evaluation of complex online clinical care pathways within sexual health & HIV medicine (SEQUENCEdigital),

 2). Preventing transmission of STIs and reducing undiagnosed HIV by increasing effectiveness of partner notification strategies by developing tailored interventions for those at highest risk (lustrum.org.uk).

3) HIV PrEP public health programmes, implementation, clinical service development, evaluation and monitoring.

Fellow To The Board

Dr Katia Prime

Katia has been a consultant in Genitourinary Medicine at St George's Hospital, London since 2005. She has a strong interest in medical education, is the South Thames GUM training programme director and the GUM SAC curriculum lead. Her research interests focus on adolescents with perinatally acquired HIV, and she is a member of the BASHH Adolescent SIG. She has also co-chaired the writing of the first BASHH Standards for the Management of Sexual Health in UK Prisons and is a member of the BASHH Prison SIG. She is passionate about advocating for a career in Genitourinary Medicine and promoting the specialty to both undergraduates and postgraduates through her work with STASHH, BASHH and the SAC.

Fellow To The Board

Dr Michael Rayment

Mike has been a consultant in Sexual Health and HIV at 10 Hammersmith Broadway, part of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, since 2014. He is also an honorary senior clinical lecturer at Imperial College London. His clinical interests include sexual function in men, bacterial STIs, prison care, viral hepatitis, and HIV prevention. He is an active clinical researcher. Mike has been a member of the BASHH Clinical Effectiveness Group since 2015, and of the reformed Prison SIG since 2020. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of STD and AIDS.

Fellow To The Board

Dr Jack Shaw

Jack is a consultant in Genitourinary & HIV Medicine based in Devon. He has been a consultant in Exeter since 2016, having previously trained in GU & HIV Medicine in the North West of England. He is the Co-chair of the FSRH/BASHH Integrated Sexual Health Information Group, and Chair of the FSRH/BASHH Integrated Sexual Health EPR Working Group. His professional interests are focussed on innovative collaborative service development, primarily through the use of digital technologies. Within his current FSRH/BASHH roles, he is trying to encourage creative co-development approaches between sexual health services, electronic health record (EHR) vendors, and other stakeholders, to improve the clinician-facing and patient-facing aspects of EHRs.

Fellow To The Board

Dr Luciana Rubinstein

Luciana has been a GUM/HIV consultant for almost 20 years, working across a district general hospital and an integrated community clinic in London. Her clinical interests include HIV and STIs in pregnancy, and the public health aspects of STI control. She holds an MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Luciana is actively involved in medical education and workforce development. She is an honorary clinical lecturer at Imperial College and Brunel Medical Schools, and Undergraduate Lead for GUM/HIV within her department. She served as STI Foundation Chair for seven years, continues to direct annual STI Foundation courses, and is an enthusiastic STI competency trainer. She has also been actively involved in international training programmes.

In 2024, Luciana became Clinical Director for GUM/HIV at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, strengthening her engagement with the strategic and operational challenges facing the specialty.

Lay Trustee

Joshua Anderson

Joshua is a HIV activist and volunteer who has been providing peer support to people living with HIV in London and the South West of England for the last eight years.  

In 2015 he took part in Through Positive Eyes, an international photography project that got people living with HIV to document their lives through photography. In the same year he started working with Positively UK as a volunteer, then mentor, and has facilitated the gay men’s group as well as delivering newly diagnosed workshops.

From 2020 to 2022 he worked as an HIV Peer Support Worker at Swindon’s Great Western Hospital, supporting people living with HIV, as well as connecting them with other services that they may need.

In 2021 he was a steering committee member at Imperial College on a study to assess the impact of COVID-19 on people living with HIV. 

Joshua is passionate about good sexual health and HIV care throughout the UK.

Doctor in Training Representative

Dr Fiona Windebank

Fiona is a Specialty Registrar dual training in Genitourinary Medicine and General Internal Medicine at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. 

She has a BSc in Immunology from the University of Glasgow and undertook her medical degree at Newcastle University.

Fiona joined as the BASHH Doctors in Training Representative in 2025 and has also been Education Officer of the HIV trainee association since 2022. She has had active involvement at many national BASHH and BHIVA conferences including chairing sessions and forming the poster and abstract judging panels.

Sexual Health Adviser Representative​​​​​​​

Jara Phattey

Jara Phattey is an experienced sexual health professional with a strong background in clinical service delivery, operational leadership, and patient-centred care. As Lead Sexual Health Adviser at Umbrella Sexual Health Services in Birmingham, she oversees a multidisciplinary team dedicated to improving sexual health outcomes for diverse communities.

Jara’s work focuses on developing innovative pathways that prioritise inclusivity, safeguarding, and trauma-informed practice. She has led several key initiatives, including the launch of an under-13 STI screening service in collaboration with Paediatric SARC, UHB Safeguarding Team and Paediatric Services, ensuring safe and accessible care for vulnerable young patients. She also spearheaded the transition to gender-neutral STI kit systems based on patient feedback and coordinated vaccination programs for HPV, Hepatitis B, MPOX and 4CMenB in partnership with NHS England and local integrated care boards.

Passionate about multi-agency collaboration, Jara works closely with safeguarding boards, public health teams, and community organisations to strengthen safeguarding processes and deliver high-quality care. Her leadership emphasises staff empowerment, continuous improvement, and evidence-based practice.

Beyond her clinical role, Jara is committed to advocacy and education. She hosts the podcast “From Stigma to Strength”; a platform dedicated to challenging HIV-related stigma, amplifying the voices of people living with HIV, and promoting resilience and understanding within communities.

SAS Rep

Dr Kajal Verma

Dr Kajal Verma is a specialty doctor at LNWUH NHS Trust. Kajal is Secretary of BASHH SAS Committee. She has been a member of the committee since 2012 and has represented SAS on various BASHH groups including Clinical Governance Committee and National Audit Group. Kajal has been the Programme Co-ordinator of BASHH Annual National Conference for SAS Doctors for over 5 years and has actively contributed to the organization and success of the conference. Kajal is passionate about progression and development of SAS doctors and is currently appointed as SAS Advocate for LNWUH NHS Trust.

Nurse Rep

Jodie Crossman

Jodie qualified as a nurse in 2004 and worked in an inpatient HIV unit, developing an immediate interest in sexual health. She has worked in clinics around the country as both a nurse and health adviser, currently working as a specialist nurse at Brighton SHAC.

She was the Inaugural Chair of the BASHH Sexual Health Adviser and Nurses SIG, and still actively participates in this group. She is currently Co-chair of the STI Foundation.

Her key areas of interest are supporting and developing staff within the sexual and reproductive health specialty and trying to reduce inequalities in access to sexual health care.

SSHA Rep

Ceri Evans

Ceri Evans has been a sexual health adviser since 1991 and is currently the Senior Health Adviser at 10 Hammersmith Broadway Clinic in London (part of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Foundation Trust).

Ceri has been involved in BASHH for many years and has previously held positions on the Clinical Governance Committee.  She is currently on the STI Foundation Competency Steering Group/STI Foundation Course, Education Committee and BASHH Clinical Standards Unit. She has also been a member of BASHH Conference Scientific/Abstracts Committee since 2012.

Ceri is the President of the Society of Sexual Health Advisers (SSHA www.ssha.info) and represents SSHA on BASHH Board. Ceri is also involved in the BASHH SHAN (Sexual Health and Nurses) SIG.

Her particular interests include partner notification, criminalisation of STI transmission, young people and pornography, and people with learning disabilities.

GUM Specialist Advisory Committee Representative

Dr Andy Williams

Dr Andy Williams is a sexual health and HIV consultant at Barts Health NHS Trust and is clinical lead for sexual health services across the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham and Waltham Forest. He is the Training Programme Director for registrars training in Genitourinary Medicine in North Central and East London, Co-chair of the London GUM STC and Co-chair of the GUM Specialist Advisory Committee for the Royal College of Physicians.  

His clinical work focuses on the sexual health of men, and he runs multiple specialist services including male sexual wellbeing work jointly with clinical psychology, a dedicated clinic for men who have experienced historical sexual abuse, a complex male genitourinary problem service and a weekly general HIV clinic.

GUM Specialist Advisory Committee Representative

Dr Sarah Schoeman

Dr. Sarah Schoeman is a GUM consultant in Leeds based at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust.

Sarah was born and brought up in Southern Africa and from a young age directly observed the impact of the HIV pandemic in resource poor settings. Sarah graduated from Newcastle University Medical School in 2000 and started her specialist GUM training in Leeds in December 2004.

Sarah was appointed as a GUM consultant at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust in 2010 and became Clinical Lead for the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust HIV service in 2015. Sarah’s areas of special interest include education and training, HIV and genital dermatology. She is currently Co-chair of the GUM Specialist Advisory Committee alongside Dr Andy Williams and together they represent the GUM SAC on the BASHH Board. Additionally, Sarah is a current clinical member of the HIV CRG, Clinical Lead for the West Yorkshire HIV Network, Clinical Lead for the Leeds Fast Tack Cities project, a BASHH Sexual Health Dermatology SIG member and BSSVD council member.