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.
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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.
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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.
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Dr Kiersten Simmons
Dr Kiersten Simmons is a HIV and Sexual Health Physician, currently undertaking a PhD which investigates how to improve access to sexual health and sexual wellbeing research and services for midlife women (aged 40-65 years) in deprived coastal communities in East Sussex. She completed her clinical training at Cambridge University, worked in general medicine for a few years, and then in Uganda and Zimbabwe for Medicins Sans Frontieres, and chose to specialize in HIV and Sexual Health in 2014, initially at King's, and then moved back to Brighton in 2016. Kiersten has always been interested in the impact of research on improving clinical outcomes and population health, particularly for the most disadvantaged communities. She has taken the opportunity to be involved in research projects that improve care for marginalized populations throughout her career. After completing her clinical specialty exams, she embarked on her PhD in February 2023, and felt very fortunate to be able to design a project that she is extremely passionate about. Creating equal opportunities for everybody to be involved in the healthcare research which affects them, and designing healthcare services which are accessible to everybody, are cornerstones of her work. She is particularly interested in deprived coastal communities and women from marginalized populations. As a HIV/GUM physician, the importance of the patient's ideas and expectations, and collaboration with multidisciplinary researchers and clinicians will always be at the forefront of her research. Tackling stigma is an essential part of her work, both as a researcher and as a physician, and she feels very honored to be part of this exciting and dynamic group.