Our team
We are a small team of eight staff members and several freelance consultants, with a broad range of skills, expertise and experience.
We are committed to bringing clear and accurate information on HIV and AIDS to those who need it and are passionate about listening to the people who use our materials to ensure they continue to be relevant, accessible and useful.
Please feel free to contact us if you have a query or would like any further information.
Staff team
Matthew Hodson Executive Director
Matthew joined NAM in 2016 as Executive Director. He is responsible for leading the organisation and ensuring it is effective in realising its mission. He works closely with the charity's trustees to shape NAM's strategic goals and oversee their implementation. He is also responsible for making sure NAM has the resources necessary to enable it to achieve its objectives. Previously Matthew was Chief Executive at GMFA, the gay men’s health charity. In 2017 Matthew was named overall winner of the Social CEO awards.
Roger Pebody Managing Editor
Roger joined NAM in 2008 as an Editor and became Managing Editor in 2018. He is responsible for co-ordinating the editorial content of aidsmap.com, including news coverage and patient information materials. His involvement in HIV work began at Gay Men Fighting AIDS in the mid-1990s.
Gus Cairns Editor
Gus joined the editorial team in 2009 and has previously edited HIV Treatment Update and Preventing HIV. He currently focuses on the PrEP in Europe Initiative and on news reporting.
Amelia Jones Website Editorial Manager
Amelia joined NAM in July 2015 as Web Editor Intern and became Website Editorial Manager in 2018. Her role involves managing the digital communications for aidsmap.com including web content, email bulletins and social media. Amelia also manages the production process for NAM’s resources and the delivery of news reporting and bulletins for conferences.
Susan Cole Patient Information, Marketing and Membership Manager
Susan re-joined NAM in 2018 after working for us 15 years ago. She is responsible for managing NAM’s Patient Information Subscription Scheme for HIV clinics and organisations. She is also responsible for engagement with patient and community groups, enabling people with HIV to make the best use of the range of NAM’s resources and ensuring our resources meet their needs.
Beth Tunnicliffe Graphic Designer
Beth joined NAM in 2018. Beth is responsible for the design of NAM's website aidsmap.com and all the printed and digital content NAM produces. She has recently undertaken a complete redesign of the aidsmap website.
Vicky Crompton Fundraising Manager
Vicky joined NAM in November 2018. She is responsible for securing and building income from new and existing donors and works with pharmaceutical companies, grant-making trusts and individual supporters. She is also establishing additional opportunities for funding and supports NAM’s activities by identifying and developing suitable sources of income.
Jeremy Cohen Business Manager
Jeremy joined NAM in September 1998. He manages NAM’s internal systems including finance, IT and premises. Jeremy’s role is to make sure that the office runs smoothly and efficiently. Jeremy has recently conducted a major review exercise of all our income and expenditure to help inform our strategy planning cycle.
Freelance consultants
Keith Alcorn
Keith joined NAM’s staff team in 1991 and was our Senior Editor until 2018. He currently contributes news and conference reporting to aidsmap.com and edits infohep.org, our website covering hepatitis treatment news.
Michael Carter
Michael has been writing news reports for NAM since 2002. As a former staff member, he wrote and edited the first editions of many of NAM’s booklets and factsheets.
Liz Highleyman
Liz is a medical writer and editor with interests in HIV, hepatitis and cancer. She has contributed conference news reporting for NAM since 2004.
Tom Paterson Web Developer
Tom has worked with NAM since 2002. He is responsible for developing our websites and digital products, including aidsmap.com, infohep.org, and prepineurope.org. He also works with partner organisations to support and enhance their digital capacity.
Sylvie Beaumont
Sylvie keeps our listings of HIV services up to date as well as providing our French translations.
Greta Hughson
Greta edits our quarterly EUROBulletin on sexual health and HIV policy in Europe and provides editorial support during major conferences.
Selina Corkery
Selina writes and updates patient information materials.
Carole Leach-Lemens
Carole is an editor and writer with over 25 years’ experience in the field of HIV/AIDS at the planning, management and direct service levels with experience in sub-Saharan Africa and a specialism in maternal and child health. She has consulted for Comic Relief, John Snow Inc., UNICEF and other organisations. Carole holds a Master of Public Health and has been writing news for aidsmap since 2009.
Krishen Samuel
Krishen has been writing for NAM since September 2018. He resides in South Africa and has been living with HIV for the past decade. Krishen previously completed a Master's degree in Global Public Health in London and has worked closely with activist organisations in the UK and US, advocating for the inclusion of people living with HIV.
Alain Volny-Anne
Alain has been an HIV/AIDS treatment activist since the 1990s. He contributed to the creation of the French Community Advisory Board, has developed treatment counselling programmes for members of key populations, and represented the community on expert committees, advisory boards and conference committees in France and internationally. He is a member of the European Community Advisory Board, also writes for Sidaction and is a scientific translator.
Kristen de Graaf HIV Lens Project Manager
Kristen has been working with NAM since April 2019. She is the project manager for the HIV Lens website development: www.hiv-lens.org.
Our translation partners include gTt (Grupo de Trabajo sobre Tratamientos del VIH, Spanish), GAT (Grupo de Ativistas em Tratamentos, Portuguese), LILA (Lega Italiana per la Lotta contro l'Aids, Italian), Stanislav Kazikin (Russian) and Sylvie Beaumont (French).
Our Emerging Voices
Our Emerging Voices programme gives new writers opportunities to develop their skills by writing, updating and editing information and articles on aidsmap.com, while receiving coaching and support from NAM's editors.
Our current Emerging Voices are listed below. If you are interested in joining the programme, please download and complete the application form and send it to info@nam.org.uk.
Bakita Kasadha
Bakita holds a number of national and international HIV advocacy positions, including Peer Researcher at Terrence Higgins Trust; Advisory Committee Member on WHO’s Global Validation Advisory Committee; and Founding Member on ViiV Healthcare’s Positive Action Strategic Advisory Committee. Bakita lives in London and is also a workshop facilitator and poet.
Oğuzhan Nuh
Oğuzhan Nuh (Oz) is a young LGBTI+ and HIV activist from Turkey. He is an International AIDS Society Youth Ambassador and an Advocacy for Cure Fellow. As a gay man openly living with HIV, he is working to improve the quality of life of people from marginalised communities and people living with or affected by HIV.
Bobby Ramakant
Bobby is part of Citizen News Service (CNS), a citizen journalism initiative focused on health and science. He writes on HIV prevention research, TB science, HIV and TB related issues, non-communicable diseases and other related issues. He has a BSc from Lucknow University (India), dropped out from Master of Journalism and Mass Communications course, and completed a certificate course from the Academy of Literary Arts and Publishing (Singapore) in editing. He was earlier part of SEA-AIDS and Stop-TB eForum moderation teams and was Key Correspondent with Health and Development Networks (HDN) till 2008.
Shobha Shukla
Shobha is the founding Managing Editor at Citizen News Service (CNS), a citizen journalism initiative focused on health and science, and Coordinator of APCAT Media (Asia Pacific Media Network to end TB & tobacco and prevent NCDs). She has written extensively on HIV, TB (including HIV and TB science), non-communicable diseases, ageing, and gender among other issues. She did her Masters in statistics at Lucknow University in India and certificate course in copy and structural editing from the Academy of Literacy Arts and Publishing in Singapore. She received IAS 2019 HIV Science Journalism Fellowship, HIV Prevention Research Journalism Fellowship 2018, and the AIDS Society of India’s Presidential Award 2019.
Paul Clift
Paul has been an activist in HIV since the early 1990s. He has represented the community on many boards and committees with the British HIV Association and NHS England. He is an advisory board member of several research projects related to HIV and also to LGBT experiences of illness and bereavement. He is a long-standing member of the UK Community Advisory Board and an active member of the European AIDS Treatment Group.
Rosalie Hayes
Rosalie worked in policy and campaigns for the National AIDS Trust (NAT) from 2016 to 2020. She is now studying for an MSc in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. When she isn't studying, Rosalie acts as consultant for NAT on their project monitoring the HIV response in Europe and Central Asia with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. She has a particular interest in the social and legal issues affecting people living with HIV and how these can be tackled through research and advocacy.
Mariah Wilberg
Mariah is a nationally recognised HIV and criminal justice reform advocate and motivational speaker from the United States. Mariah’s passion stems from her lived experience, and she fights to make sure directly impacted people are involved in the policy and decision making that affects their lives. Her current role is leading the implementation of the state of Minnesota’s ending the HIV epidemic plan, END HIV MN.
Pascal Akahome
Pascal is an advocate for increased treatment access in Nigeria. He is an Advocacy for Cure Academy fellow of the IAS and the founder of Antiretroviral Improved Access Initiative (AIAI), an advocacy network in his home country Nigeria.
Mercy Shibemba
Mercy Shibemba is an award-winning activist and advocate for children and young people living with HIV. She works on youth engagement and participation across clinical trials, research and charities that support young people. She is the Co-Chair of The Sophia Forum, working to improve the rights, health, welfare and dignity of women living with HIV.
Felicia Bamgbose
Felicia is a medical doctor working in East London with a special interest in HIV and Sexual Health. She has worked in Clinical Research for HIV prevention and volunteered with organisations like Africa Advocacy and Positive East to improve HIV knowledge and testing. Her particular focus is around trying to reduce the stigma associated with HIV through better education.
Our trustees
NAM is one of the world’s foremost providers of information on HIV and AIDS. Our information is aimed at two main audiences: people living with HIV; and professionals working in the field such as doctors, other healthcare workers, community advocates and HIV organisation staff and volunteers.
NAM’s trustees play a crucial role in advancing the charity’s purposes, overseeing the organisation’s strategic direction and protecting its assets and interests.
NAM's board of trustees uses its wide range of experience, specialisms and interests to provide strategic leadership for the charity. The board includes individuals living with HIV and several trustees have considerable experience within the sector. The trustees intend that the board should collectively provide a mix of skills, experience, qualities and knowledge to enable NAM to respond effectively to the challenges and opportunities faced by the organisation and, in line with NAM's mission, to ensure the organisation remains rooted in the experience of those most affected by HIV and AIDS. The trustees receive no remuneration for their work with NAM.
Dr Margaret Swain Chair
Margaret has a background in biological research, spent several years in clinical research in the pharmaceutical industry and latterly in research management and administration with Cancer Research UK. She has also worked in Ghana and Malawi and her interests include NAM’s international work, treatment information and general governance issues.
Tom Abell Vice Chair
Tom is Deputy Chief Executive of Mid and South Essex University Hospitals Group and has worked within health service management for over 12 years in a variety of service commissioning and provider roles. He is particularly interested in NAM’s information services for people living with HIV. Tom is a qualified accountant, and is also a non-executive director of Eastern Academic Health Science Network.
Julia Reidy Treasurer
Julia has been a qualified accountant since 2001 and has over 20 years experience in the financial services industry. Julia has been involved in fund raising and charitable activities within her work environment and became a trustee treasurer of NAM in 2019.
Dr Sanjay Bhagani
Sanjay is a consultant physician and senior lecturer in infectious diseases and HIV medicine at London’s Royal Free Hospital. He has a special focus on the management of complex HIV infection, including difficult opportunistic infections as well as on the management of viral hepatitis in people with HIV. He is chair of the British HIV Association’s Hepatitis Society. Sanjay is particularly interested in NAM’s new stream of work around viral hepatitis, which includes aidsmap’s sister website www.infohep.org.
Brian Cooper
Brian is a former International Editor at NAM and a trustee since 1998. His background is in commercial publishing, education, television and film, as Marketing Manager for Scholastic, a Creative Agent for The Royal Opera House and as an independent film producer. He also has many years' experience as a technical and creative consultant, as a translator with a medical specialisation and as a creative producer with youth projects. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Duncan Jarvies
Duncan is an editor for The BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal) where he specialises in multimedia, dissemination of evidence based medicine, and campaigning for better science. With 10 years of experience and experimentation in digital publishing, Duncan's interested in NAM is in the innovative forms of information display and interaction tailored to the readers needs.
Julianne Lwanga
Julianne trained in Uganda at a time before antiretroviral therapy (ART) was available there. She has since trained and worked in obstetrics and gynaecology, genitourinary medicine and contraception in the UK and is currently specialising in HIV care and research at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital. She is interested in HIV prevention and cure research and in the involvement of black and ethnic minority women in research as well as how to reach out more to them and other communities that may find it harder to access HIV care services. Other (future) interests are in education particularly of medical and nursing students in Africa.
Jason Schroen
Jason is a lawyer currently working within the technology sector in London. Jason has a diverse legal background having previously taught commercial law, practiced family law in Australia and advised on adult social care for a London Borough. Jason has been a Trustee at NAM since 2017.
Our funders
NAM works hard to make sure it receives its income from a wide range of sources so it does not rely too heavily on any one funder. This includes individuals, trusts and foundations, companies, international agencies and government. This means we can be confident that our future will not be jeopardised by a funder unexpectedly withdrawing its support. It also affords us a great deal of scope to respond to needs rapidly as they arise or to undertake projects that could otherwise be restricted. But most importantly, it allows us to remain wholly independent and means that you can be confident that the information we produce will always be impartial, accurate and reliable.
For the same reason, we don’t accept any paid advertising on aidsmap.com or in any of NAM’s printed information materials. NAM receives no sponsorship for editorial content we provide about commercially available medical, scientific or other goods or services.
We are fortunate to receive some funds from the pharmaceutical industry, which has been generous in supporting community-based HIV treatment information work. Their support is long-standing and has provided security in a rapidly changing funding environment. However, we have strict funding guidelines in place to ensure the independence and impartiality of all our information. There is no question of their being able to interfere with our editorial stance or influence us in any other way that undermines our independence. The pharmaceutical companies understand and honour our position on this.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our donors, past and present, for their support. It is your commitment and generosity that underpins everything we achieve for people affected by HIV.
Download NAM's funding guidelines.
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Donor |
Work supported |
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Charitable trusts & foundations |
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aidsmapLIVE and aidsmapCHAT. |
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| Make a Difference Trust | aidsmapLIVE on HIV and mental health and HIV, mental health & emotional wellbeing booklet. |
| National Lottery Awards for All | Community engagement and HIV treatment and COVID Support Programme - living well with HIV during the crisis. |
| Open Society Foundations | 2019 European Community Summit on HIV Prevention. |
| The Mercury Phoenix Trust | aidsmap news and HIV update email bulletins. |
| The London Community Foundation | COVID Support Programme - living well with HIV during the crisis. |
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UK statutory funders |
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| Fast-Track Cities Improvement Fund |
Positive Champions project (with Africa Advocacy Foundation): focusing on early diagnosis and testing in black African communities in south-east London. The GROWS project, women living with HIV Growing Older, Wiser and Stronger (with Sophia Forum, Positively UK and UCL): supporting women with their health, wellbeing and social care needs. |
| Public Health England | 'Tell me about it' project: podcast series sharing HIV and sexual and reproductive health information. |
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Conference organisers |
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| European AIDS Clinical Society | News coverage from the EACS Standard of Care for HIV & Coinfections in Europe meetings 2019 and 2020 and EACS 2019. |
| HIV Glasgow organising committee | News coverage from HIV Glasgow 2020. |
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Multilateral agencies |
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Non-governmental organisations |
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| Stichting AFEW International | 2019 European Community Summit on HIV Prevention. |
| AIDES | 2019 European Community Summit on HIV Prevention. |
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Pharmaceutical companies |
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2019 European Community Summit on HIV Prevention. aidsmapCHAT and aidsmapWOMEN series. |
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Supporting people with HIV to live well as they get older. Core funding to facilitate digital information services during the pandemic for people living with HIV. |
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PrEP in Europe Initiative. |
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Emerging Voices in Scientific Reporting programme. 2020 - 'Changing Lives' project (includes PrEP in Europe, aidsmapLIVE, Emerging Voices and 2020 conference coverage) News coverage and bulletins from CROI 2021 conference. Core funding from ViiV UK to deliver a range of up to date, useful and reliable HIV treatment and prevention information resources; for empowered, longer and healthier lives for people living with HIV. |
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Our partners
NAM has a long tradition of working with a variety of other HIV organisations to respond to emerging challenges, expand our reach, and strengthen HIV information provision. We recognise that working together and sharing skills, experience and expertise means we can all use our resources effectively to better support people with HIV.
Current partnerships include:
European AIDS Clinical Society
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+)
Grupo Português de Activistas sobre Tratamentos de VIH/SIDA (GAT, Portugal)
Grupo de Trabajo sobre Tratamientos del VIH (gTt, Spain)
We have also worked with, amongst others, the National AIDS Trust, the UK Government's Department for International Development, the World Health Organization, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Boston University Department of Family Medicine.
NAM works with a range of community-based organisations in other countries to make our materials available in other languages, including GAT; gTt; Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe (German); the Czech AIDS Help Society (Czech); Lega Italiana per la Lotta contro l'Aids (Italian); and Pozitif Yaşam Derneği (Turkish).
If you can help us translate our materials into other languages, we would love to hear from you.
NAM is not a grant-giving organisation and we regret we are unable to offer funding to other organisations.
Our review panels
Medical review panel
We work with a wide range of healthcare professionals to ensure our information materials are accurate and up to date. Here are just some of the people who have helped us with our materials over the years.
Professor Jane Anderson, Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Professor Brian Angus, Infectious Diseases Consultant and Clinical Director, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Tristan Barber, Consultant HIV Medicine, Ian Charleson Day Centre, Royal Free Hospital
Dr Laura Benjamin, Clinical Lecturer in Neurology, University College London
Dr Sanjay Bhagani, Consultant Physician, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Marta Boffito, Consultant Physician/Reader, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College, London
Professor Mark Bower, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Gary Brook, Clinical Lead GUM/HIV, London North West Healthcare NHS Trust
Darren Brown, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Fiona Burns, Senior Clinical Lecturer, Honorary Consultant Physician and Clinical Lead for HIV, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Pepe Catalan, Psychiatrist, CNWL NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Ian Cormack, Consultant GUM Physician, Croydon University Hospital
Dr Alessia Dalla Pria, Chelsea & Westminster NHS Foundation Trust
Heather Leake Date, Principal Pharmacist for HIV and Sexual Health, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals
Shema Doshi, Principal pharmacist sexual health, Caldecot Centre, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Alastair Duncan, Principal Dietitian, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital
Sarah Ellis, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Grahame Hayton Unit, Barts Health NHS Trust
Tom Fernandez, Nurse Practitioner, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Sarah Fidler, Consultant Physician in HIV and GUM, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Dr Stuart Flanagan, Clinical Research Fellow, Viral Hepatitis and HIV Medicine, Queen Mary University London
Dr Stuart Gibson, Barts Health NHS Trust
Susanna Gilmour-White, Specialist pharmacist, Caldecot Centre, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Fiona Hillen, Specialist Dietitian, University Hospital of Wales
Dr Rachael Jones, Lead clinician, 10 Hammersmith Broadway, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Professor Saye Khoo, Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases, Royal Liverpool University Hospital
Dr Ranjababu Kulasegaram, Consultant Physician in HIV/GU Medicine, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Professor Charles Lacey, Honorary Consultant Physician, GU/HIV Medicine, York Teaching Hospital NHS Trust
Dr Fiona Lampe, University College London
Dr Tom Levett, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
Dr Hermione Lyall, Consultant Paediatrician, St Mary's Hospital
Dr Nicola Mackie, Consultant in HIV/GUM, St Mary's Hospital
Dr Paddy Mallon, College Lecturer/Consultant (Infectious Diseases), Mater Hospital, Dublin
Martin Murchie, Society of Sexual Health Advisors
Dr Silvia Montoto, Consultant in Haematology Oncology, Barts Health NHS Trust
Dr Nneka Nwokolo, Consultant Physician in Sexual Health and HIV Medicine, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital
Zoe Rice, Dietitian, The Food Chain
Dr Frank Post, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Celesta Riddles, Directorate pharmacist – HIV services, Ealing Hospital
Dr Damien Ridge, University of Westminster
Dr Iain Reeves, Consultant Physician in Sexual Health and HIV, Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Daniel Richardson FRCP, Consultant & Hon Clinical Senior Lecturer in Sexual Health & HIV Medicine, Brighton & Sussex Universities NHS Trust
Dr Dana Rosenfeld, Keele University
Professor Caroline Sabin, Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, University College London
Silma Shah, Highly specialist pharmacist – HIV/GUM, Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Shema Tariq, Postdoctoral Clinical Research Fellow (UCL) & Honorary Consultant HIV Physician (Mortimer Market Centre)
Dr Jonathan Underwood, Infectious Diseases and General Internal Medicine Specialty Registrar, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Dr Andrew Ustianowski, Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Dr Jaime Vera, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
Dr Karen Walker-Bone, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Arthritis Research UK/MRC Centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work, Southampton General Hospital NHS FT
Dr Laura Waters, HIV Consultant, Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Shaun Watson, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Rosy Weston, Senior lead pharmacist for sexual health and HIV, St Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Professor Alan Winston, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Dr Mike Youle, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Peer review panel
We work with people living with HIV and other HIV organisations who contribute their expertise and share their experiences when reviewing our patient information resources. Some of these people are:
Chris Birch
Clive Blowes, Terrence Higgins Trust
Garry Brough, Positively UK
Patrick Cash
Ben Cromarty, North Yorkshire AIDS Action
Robin F
Jeremy
Jo Josh, UK-CAB
Christabel Kunda, NAZ
Irina Lut, FPA
Vincent Manning, Catholics for AIDS Prevention and Support
Angelina Namiba, Associate, Salamander Trust
Mel Rattue, CEO Positively Mindful CIC
Zoe Rice, Dietitian, The Food Chain
David Rowlands
Chris Sandford, Bloomsbury Patient Network
Alex Sparrowhawk
Sophie Strachan
Our vacancies
Emerging Voices
If you are interested in our Emerging Voices programme, you can find out more in the application form. If you'd like to apply, please send your completed form to info@nam.org.uk.
We are a dynamic and energetic organisation, which achieves a great deal with a small but highly focused and professional team. We are professional, yet informal and friendly, with a good level of autonomy within roles. We work in a rapidly changing environment, we listen to the views of users in order to ensure we are responsive to need and maximise opportunities as they arise.
Our core values are: reliable, useful, responsive. These values are at the heart of everything we do and the way we do it.
Our history
NAM was founded by Peter Scott in 1987. Peter was working at the heart of the community affected by HIV – at the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard. At that time there was extensive misinformation about HIV and AIDS, much of it confused and homophobic.
Peter and a group of committed volunteers set about creating a source of calm, authoritative and trustworthy information on which those living with HIV in the UK could rely. Thus, the National AIDS Manual was born. We were one of the first organisations to produce accurate information on HIV and we quickly became the UK’s primary source of HIV information.
Since then, NAM’s users have grown and diversified within the UK and worldwide, so we are constantly revising, rewriting and adapting our information to take account of new needs and developments. We currently publish a wide range of print, online and other digital materials for all communities affected by HIV and those working to support them.
Peter Scott's vision has been central to the development of NAM.
What does NAM stand for?
The initials NAM originally stood for National AIDS Manual.
As these pictures show, when the charity was founded in 1987, the 'Manual' was a huge ring binder containing the available information on HIV and AIDS. Produced at a time when there was lots of hysteria and little reliable information, it was an important, evidence-based, reference point for professionals as well as people diagnosed with HIV and AIDS.
NAM's resources have developed and evolved over the years to reflect the changing epidemic, developments in treatment and care and the changing information needs of people living with and working in HIV all over the world. We now have a huge range of HIV information resources, including digital and print written information, videos, podcasts and live broadcasts. By providing information on a wide range of platforms, in different languages, we are able to reach larger and broader audiences globally.
As NAM now produces much more than just the ‘Manual’, we have become known simply as NAM.
Although those weighty ringbinders are now tucked away in the NAM archive, the Manuals are an important part of our charity's history. The 'essence' of this approach to delivering HIV and AIDS information is reflected through our day-to-day work, providing calm, reliable, authoritative, independent information to anyone who needs it.