Speakers

César A. Alfonso, M.D. is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University, Adjunct Professor at the University of Indonesia, and Visiting Professor at Prince of Songkla University in Thailand, and at the National University of Malaysia. He serves as Editor of Psychodynamic Psychiatry. He served as Chair of the Psychotherapy Section of the World Psychiatric Association in 2017-2023 and is the current President of the World Federation for Psychotherapy (2023-2026).

Sara Bachiller is a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the University of Seville, conducting her research at the Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (IBiS). After obtaining her PhD degree in Neurosciences in 2017 (Cum Laude, extraordinary award), she completed a postdoctoral stay at Lund University (Sweden, 2017-2020).
At IBiS, Dr. Bachiller conducts translational research, analyzing the role of extracellular vesicles in the establishment of the reservoir in brain and its association with mechanisms of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in people living with HIV.

Ramon Bataller graduated from Medicine at the University of Valencia, and completed his liver fellowship and the PhD in the University of Barcelona. After a research fellowship at Chapel Hill in USA, he started working in the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona in 2003 focusing clinically and research wise on ArLD.

He spent the last decade in the USA and served as a Chief of Hepatology in the University of Pittsburgh. He led the international InTeam consortium to study alcohol-related hepatitis and build a multidisciplinary team to treat patients with ArLD. 10 months ago, he returned to Barcelona where he currently serves as a Chief of the Liver Unit.

His main contributions to alcohol-related hepatitis include identifying the determinants of patient’s outcome, an histological classification and novel therapeutic targets.

Jordi Blanch is Psychiatrist. He is  currently Director of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Hospital Universitari de Santa Maria de Lleida. Since 2009 he is the chief of the Outpatient Clinic of the Psychiatry and Psychology Department of Hospital Clínic of Barcelona. Chair for Educational Affairs of the Clinical Institute of Neurosciences in Hospital Clínic of Barcelona.

He also is Associate Professor, University of Barcelona. Dr. Blanch is member of the Organization of AIDS Psychiatrists and  member of the HIV/AIDS Psychiatry Section of the World Psychiatry Association. He is a founding member and Coordinator of the International Symposium on Psychiatry and HIV since 2008.

José Ramón Blanco, M.D., University of Zaragoza. Specialist in Internal Medicine. For more than 20 years he has been working in the Infectious Diseases Service of the San Pedro Hospital in Logroño. His research interest has focused on HIV infection, more specifically on the mechanisms involved in the accelerated aging of these people and its consequences.

He is temporary Assistant Professor at the University of Torino (Department of Medical Sciences, Infectious Diseases). Infectious Diseases Specialist (University of Torino, Italy); Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand). He is member of the Panel of the Italian Guidelines on the Use of Antiretrovirals and Management of patients living with HIV.

He has experience as a Clinicians in Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine (Sudan, Thailand, Burundi); several phase II, III and IV studies in antiretroviral treatment trials.

His main field of interest is the clinical pharmacology and pharmacogenetics of anti-infective agents (antiretroviral, antibiotic, antifungals) and the central nervous system complication of HIV-infection.

She is currently working as senior physician at the Department of Infectious Diseases and responsible of the Neurovirology Research Unit at the Research Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases of San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy, and as contract Professor of Infectious Diseases at San Raffaele University.

Her research group is mainly involved in studies on HIV Infection of the Central Nervous System, Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy and other HIV-associated CNS complications.

She is a panel member of the Italian HIV Treatment Guidelines, of the EACS Co-morbidities and of the Opportunistic Infections Guidelines, and of the NIH/CDC/IDSA Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections.in HIV-Infected Adults and Adolescents.

Ben Collins, co-director of ReShape, has been a community organiser, networker, and convener for over 50 years. His key area of interest is movement building to prevent and respond to interconnected social and health issues, including social and structural inequity, HIV and related conditions, race, gender, stigma and discrimination, trauma, neurodivergence, and substance use.

Guida da Ponte, M.D., Ph.D., psychiatrist, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health – Centro Hospitalar Barreiro-Montijo, Portugal. One of the major fields of practice is with HIV patients with a psychiatric outpatient clinic dedicated to this condition. Author of scientific publications, mainly in the areas of neurocognitive disorders, depression, anxiety and psychopharmacology and antiretroviral interactions.

María José Fuster Phd, master in methodology of behavioral and health sciences, Faculty of Psychology (UNED), 2012. PhD in Psychology (UNED), 2011. Degree in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology (UNED), 2003

Since 2019 I work as Internship Coordinator in the Master’s Degree in Psychology of Social Intervention.  Department of social and organizational psychology, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. Madrid, Spain. I am a member of the Ethics Committee of the UNED.

My lines of research are psychosocial problems associated with HIV infection, including stigma, social exclusion, health behaviors, psychological well-being and quality of life of people with HIV. In the methodological field I have experience in the design, validation and application of psychometric instruments.

I have carried out professional psychosocial intervention and management work in several non-profit organizations. I am currently executive director of the Spanish Interdisciplinary AIDS Society (SEISIDA).

Pol Garcia-Segura earned dual Bachelor’s degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Biotechnology at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) in 2021. During his studies, he completed a obne of his BSc thesis project in the Experimental Neuromuscular Pathology group at the University of Lleida (UdL) under the supervision of Dr. Jordi Calderó and Dr. Josep E. Esquerda. He also worked in the field of Structural bioinformatics and Drug discovery at URV under Dr. Santi Garcia-Vallvé and Dr. Gerard Pujadas.

In 2022, Pol completed his MSc in Neurosciences at the University of Barcelona (UB), where he conducted a final master’s project in the Neurodegeneration and Signaling group under Dr. Cristina Malagelada. Currently, he is a FPU-fellow PhD student in Neurosciences at UB, in the lab of Dr. Malagelada, focusing on neurodegenerative diseases. His research investigates the role of mTOR and its negative regulator RTP801 in neuroinflammation and cognitive impairment, exploring RTP801 as a therapeutic target and developing new pharmacological inhibitors for these conditions.

Scott Letendre, M.D., is Professor of Medicine in Residence in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He graduated from Georgetown University School of Medicine and, following his residency in internal medicine at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, he completed fellowships in Infectious Disease Medicine at Duke University and in Neurologic HIV Research at UCSD. At UCSD, Dr. Letendre performs translational, patient-oriented research of the central nervous system complications of chronic infections, including HIV, HCV, and CMV. As part of a multidisciplinary research team, he conducts treatment trials of neurocognitively impaired individuals and analyzes their response to therapy as well as studies of the pharmacokinetics of antiretrovirals, the effect of comorbidities, and biomarker correlates of disease. Dr. Letendre is also an investigator in the UCSD unit of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group.

He participates in several international research projects, including projects based in China, India, Zambia, and Romania. Dr

Dr. Cristina Malagelada graduated (1998) and earned her PhD (2003) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She did her first postdoctoral stay at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (NYC, US) (2003) to study Alzheimer’s disease. During her second postdoctoral stay at Columbia University in the city of NY in the laboratory of Professor Lloyd Greene (2004), she studied the mTOR pathway in the context of Parkinson’s disease. In 2008 she was appointed Associate Research Scientist at the same University. In 2009 she was awarded a Ramon y Cajal contract from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Economy and in 2010 she came back to establish her laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (Campus Clínic) at the Universitat de Barcelona. She is currently investigating the mTOR pathway in several neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases. Recently, her group has focused on the mTOR-mediated mechanisms that mediate neuroinflammation and cognitive deficits.

Dr. Esteban Martínez is a senior consultant in the Infectious Diseases Unit of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. He is also coordinator of the Treatment Program for Facial Lipoatrophy in people with HIV of the Health Department of the Generalitat de Catalunya and Associate Professor of Medicine. His main fields of interest are the optimization of antiretroviral therapy and comorbidities in adults with HIV infection. He is a member of the steering committee of the European neat-id network for the treatment of HIV, hepatitis and global infectious diseases and research director of the Reprieve clinical trial, the largest conducted in the prevention of vascular events in HIV.

Dr. Esteban Martínez has been president of the Spanish HIV Study Group (GeSida) between 2019 and 2021, and is the president-elect of the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS) for the period 2020-2024. He is a founding member and Coordinator of the International Symposium on Psychiatry and HIV since 2008.

Dr Catia Marzolini obtained a degree in Pharmacy followed by a PhD in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the pharmacogenetics of drug transporters within the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA. She obtained subsequently the “venia docenti” from the University of Basel.

Catia Marzolini is currently working as a senior research scientist in the Division of Infectious Diseases & Hospital Epidemiology at the University Hospital of Basel. Her research focuses on pharmacological and genetic determinants of antiretroviral drug response and toxicity. Catia Marzolini has become an expert in the field of HIV drug-drug interactions. She is a member of the Liverpool HIV drug-drug interactions website and is notably in charge of predicting drug-drug interactions. Catia Marzolini has also joined the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS) guidelines committee panel for the pharmacological aspects of HIV therapy.

Jose A. Muñoz-Moreno is a clinician and researcher at the Lluita contra les Infeccions Foundation, located in the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). He earned the Ph.D. degree in Neurosciences in 2012 (Cum Laude), and currently he is also a collaborating professor with the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).

Muñoz-Moreno is involved in projects that address psychology and the human behaviour associated with HIV infection. In terms of study, he mostly investigates the neurocognitive features of HIV infection, the impact of HIV and antiretroviral treatments on quality of life and emotional status, and adherence to antiretroviral therapy.

Muñoz-Moreno’s recent work particularly focuses on assessment methods to detect HIV-related neurocognitive changes and the current profile of neurocognitive impairment in people living with HIV infection.

Dr. Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu, an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Makerere University, Uganda, has earned international acclaim, including a Presidential Medal and the 2016 Elsevier Foundation Award, for her pioneering group psychotherapy for HIV patients. Her program, notable for its affordability and effectiveness, significantly reduces stigma, depression and improves HIV viral suppression. In 2023, she advanced her impact by joining the WPA Psychotherapy Executive Committee and the WFP Council. Her work, supported by global health organizations, demonstrates the power of culturally sensitive mental health interventions. Nakimuli-Mpungu’s academic journey spans from Makerere University to a doctoral degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Teymur Noori works at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) as an expert on HIV. He is primarily responsible for monitoring the HIV response in Europe and Central Asia, including prevention, testing, treatment and stigma. He also leads ECDC work on migrant health and infectious diseases.

Ignacio Pérez-Valero MD PhD is a 43 years-old Consultant Physician of Internal Medicine at the Reina Sofía University Hospital. Córdoba, Spain.

Anna Prats is a psychologist expert in neuropsychology and a researcher. She completed her doctoral thesis on clinical management strategies for cognitive disorders in people with HIV. She has participated in multiple funded projects, both national and European, focusing mainly on HIV, Parkinson’s disease, and long COVID. Currently, she is engaged in clinical and research work at the Fundació Lluita contra les Infeccions – Servei de Malalties Infeccioses of the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital.

Annemiek Schadé works as a psychiatrist since 1994 and since 2005 at the HIV Expert and Treatment Center on HIV and Mental Health and as a consultant at the University Hospital VU Medical Center in Amsterdam. She is a trainer and tutor for medical residents and interns psychiatry. The past years, she provided trainings and E-learning on HIV and Mental Health. She published a study book (in Dutch) and (research) articles on HIV and Mental Health, in English and Dutc

Jaime Vera is a Professor in HIV Medicine at the Department of Global Health and Infection, Brighton and Sussex Medical School. He is also the clinical lead physician for the combined HIV and memory clinic in Brighton. Jaime’s research focusses on the study of comorbidities affecting people with HIV such as cognitive impairment and frailty including the development of innovative models of care aimed at improving quality of life, and mental well-being of older people with HIV in both low and high-income settings.

Malcolm von Schantz is Professor of Chronobiology and Deputy Faculty Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange in the Faculty for Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK. After undergraduate studies and postgraduate research in his native Sweden and the United States, he has been based in the UK since 1995, working at Imperial College, University of Surrey, and most recently Northumbria University. His research addresses sleep as a global health issue, investigating the determinants of sleep timing and quality and their relationship with physical and mental health. Much of his recent research has focused on Brazil and South Africa, and been acknowledged with visiting professor appointments at the University of São Paulo and the University of the Witwatersrand. His research is currently funding by the Medical Research Council, the National Institutes of Health, and the Wellcome Trust.

Alan Winston is a Professor of HIV and Genitourinary Medicine at Imperial College and Consultant Physician at St. Mary’s Hospital, London. He has an M.D. in antiretroviral clinical pharmacology and his research focuses on non-infectious co-morbidities associated with HIV-disease in the modern antiretroviral era, with a strong focus on central nervous system complications.

Dr. Alan Winston qualified from Glasgow University and undertook training in general medicine and HIV medicine in the UK and Australia. He leads the HIV and GU clinical trials unit at St. Mary’s hospital which runs over 20 studies at one time.

He is the principal clinical investigator on the POPPY study, a cohort study describing the incidence and nature of co-morbidities in HIV.