About the team
Dr Papreen Nahar
Dr Papreen Nahar, is a medical anthropologist at BSMS (pls insert my profile link here). She is involved in a stigma focused NIHR funded project titled ‘Social Science Capacity Development for Server Stigmatising Conditions’ (5S) Foundation. Nahar’s book on Childlessness has addressed the issue of stigma from both perspectives; suffering and resilience (Nahar P., 2022, Childlessness in Bangladesh: Intersectionality, Suffering and Resilience. Routledge, UK). Three of her PhD students are also exploring stigma in relation to Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) in Sudan and Rwanda.
Dr Papreen Nahar's full profile >
Dr Caroline Ackley
Dr Caroline Ackley holds a PhD in Medical Anthropology from UCL and has worked in the Greater Horn of Africa since 2009. Her PhD examined Somaliland women's life course as an entanglement of moralities, time, and selves. She explored stigma associated with female genital mutilation, female sexuality, and class. Caroline was based in Harar, Ethiopia from 2017-2019 as a Research Fellow in Anthropology with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. While in Ethiopia her Gates and Wellcome Trust funded researched touched on stigma associated with child death, stillbirth, and poverty. Most recently her research explores stigma associated with NTDs, mycetoma in particular, through the NIHR Research Unit. She also studies HIV related stigma through the PEDAL study funded by ViiV Healthcare.
Dr Caroline Ackley's full profile >
Dr Giovanni Villa
Giovanni is a HIV physician and a specialist in Infectious Diseases. Following his training in Italy, he obtained a MSc in Tropical and Infectious Diseases at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and a PhD in Infection and Global Health at the University of Liverpool. His doctoral studies focused on outcomes of antiretroviral treatment in a programmatic setting in Ghana. His research interests lie on the intersection between HIV and viral hepatitis B and between HIV and non-communicable diseases.
Giovanni has a keen interest in HIV-related stigma, which he developed during my studies in sub-Saharan Africa, and in the impact of stigma on treatment outcomes.
Dr Giovanni Villa's full profile >
Dr Maya Semrau
Dr Maya Semrau is a senior research fellow in implementation research. She has a background in global mental health research, following on from her PhD in International Public Mental Health obtained at King’s College London in 2012. Since 2017, Maya works at the Brighton & Sussex Medical School (BSMS) on the NIHR Global Health Research Unit for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) – she is particularly interested in the mental wellbeing and stigma aspects of NTDs. Maya also co-convenes the Working Group on Mental Wellbeing and Stigma of the NTD NGO Network’s (NNN’s) Disease Management, Disability and Inclusion (DMDI) cross-cutting group, and she is involved in the Indigo mental health stigma reduction programme led by King’s College London as well as the 5S Foundation at BSMS.
Dr Maya Semrau's full profile >