2nd European Workshop on Breaking PrEP Barriers

PhD in Social Psychology. Member of the BCN Checkpoint team since 2011. Areas of interest include HIV testing, peer counselling, risk perception and PrEP implementation. For the last 6 years, working as Clinical Research Coordinator at BCN PrEP-Point.

Dr. Clotet received his MD (1976) and his PhD (1981), with a thesis on autoimmune diseases, from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). That same year, his internship as an Internal Medicine specialist at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona coincided with the first AIDS case reported in Spain. This case was the catalyst for a career dedicated to this serious disease, first as head of the HIV Unit of the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital in Badalona (1987-2015) and then as founder and president of the Fight against AIDS Foundation (1992), which is now named as Fight Infections Foundation.

Dr. Clotet soon saw the need to go a step beyond patient care to conduct research aimed at eradicating AIDS. In 1995, with the support of “la Caixa” and the Department of Health of the Generalitat of Catalonia, he founded the IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute, which he still heads.  In addition, Dr. Clotet is also the clinical director of Infectious Diseases at the Metropolitana Nord area of the Catalan Institute of Health, scientific advisor to two IrsiCaixa spin-offs: Aelix Therapeutics SL and AlbaJuna Therapeutics SL and director of the Chair of AIDS and Related Diseases at the Universitat de Vic (UVic).

He has published more than 1000 papers in high impact international journals and his contributions to research have been recognized with the Josep Trueta medal to Sanitary Merit and the ‘Premi Nacional de Recerca’, among other awards.

Arkaitz Imaz received his MD from University of Navarra in 2002 and completed his Internal Medicine training at Vall d’Hebron Hospital (Barcelona). He obtained his PhD from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2012.

In 2010 he joined the Department of Infectious Diseases of the Bellvitge University Hospital where he works as a physician in the HIV and STI Unit.

He is involved in clinical research in the field of HIV and antiretroviral therapy, participating in multiple research projects and clinical trials. He also acts as reviewer in several scientific journals and has participated in clinical guidelines on antiretroviral therapy, drug resistance and HIV-associated diseases.

PhD in Social Psychology. Member of the BCN Checkpoint team since 2011. Areas of interest include HIV testing, peer counselling, risk perception and PrEP implementation. For the last 6 years, working as Clinical Research Coordinator at BCN PrEP-Point.

Anton has extensive experience working as a GU doctor and volunteer with international community organisations, charities, and hospitals, including BCN PrEP Point, YMCA, Terrence Higgins Trust, and Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust. Anton Brusov possess strong practical knowledge in Sexual and Reproductive Health, with a particular focus on STIs and HIV, gained through clinical, one-to-one, and outreach settings. Skilled in communication and health promotion, Anton Brusov  has delivered specialist advice, interventions, and campaigns targeting diverse and vulnerable populations such as GBMSM, Black and Minority Ethnic communities, Commercial Sex Workers, individuals with substance misuse issues, and people experiencing homelessness in Spain , Ingland and Russia.

Kai Jonas (1972) spent his childhood in the Bavarian countryside and was educated in the United States of America, Spain and Germany. He obtained his PhD in Psychology at the University of Göttingen. After a Post-Doc at the University of Jena he moved to the University of Amsterdam as an assistant professor. He is currently Full Professor of Applied Social Psychology at Maastricht University, the Netherlands, and has held visiting/adjunct positions at Mahidol University, Bangkok and at Chinese University Hong Kong. His research centers on all aspects of the HIV cascade, STI prevention, substance use, and stigma and discrimination.

Elske Hoorneborg is the Director of the Sexual Health Center of the Public Health Service of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Sexual Health Center provides testing and care related to sexual health for the population of Amsterdam and the surrounding municipalities.
In 2020, she obtained her PhD in epidemiology for her research on the introduction of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in the Netherlands. Her current areas of expertise include research on HIV prevention, the effects of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, prevention and testing of viral hepatitis, and mpox.
In addition, she also works as a specialist physician in HIV treatment at DC Klinieken Amsterdam.
She has participated in advisory board meetings of the European CDC and the WHO.

Raphael J. Landovitz is the Director of the UCLA Center for HIV Investigation, Prevention, and Treatment Services (CHIPTS) and Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In addition, he serves as a professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases and as Director of the UCLA CARE Center, where he leads clinical research on HIV and other infectious diseases.

He earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and a Master of Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. He completed his residency and fellowship in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

His areas of expertise include HIV prevention, HIV treatment, the development of biomedical preventive strategies such as PrEP, and clinical research on treatments for infectious diseases, including COVID-19. He has served as principal investigator on multiple national and international clinical trials, including studies conducted by HPTN, ACTG, and CoVPN.

He is also a member of the scientific advisory board of the International AIDS Society-USA and has participated in global health projects, such as the collaboration program between the CDC Vietnam and Harvard Medical School.

Furthermore, he has been actively involved in international medical training, including teaching rotations in Malawi.

Family physician with over 15 years of clinical experience, specialized in sexual health, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). She is currently the Clinical Coordinator of the STI Unit at Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol and a researcher at the Foundation for the Fight against Infections, within Dr. Oriol Mitjà’s team. She combines clinical care with research and training in the fields of STIs, community-based approaches, and comprehensive sexual health. Committed to improving access to healthcare, prevention, and sexual health education, particularly among vulnerable populations and in community settings.

From 2008 to 2023, he worked at the AIDS Research Institute – IrsiCaixa as Clinical Cohort Coordinator, collaborating in the recruitment and follow-up of several cohorts, as well as in other studies (therapeutic and preventive HIV vaccines, microbial genomics, human papillomavirus, PrEP, STIs).

He has combined his research activity with clinical work at the HIV Unit of Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol and at the BCN-Checkpoint Community Center. He served as the Medical Director of this center, promoting the creation of the first PrEP center in Spain, BCN-PrEP·Point, established in 2017.

He was co-coordinator of the guideline Recommendations on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for HIV Prevention in Spain, by GeSIDA, the SEIMC HIV Study Group.

Mar Vera García is a medical specialist in the field of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Since 2010, she has been working at the Sandoval Health Center, a nationally and internationally recognized monographic clinic dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of HIV and other STIs, which is part of the Hospital Clínico San Carlos in Madrid.

She holds a PhD in Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases from the Complutense University of Madrid. She combines her clinical work with teaching and research, participating as a lecturer in numerous university and healthcare courses on STIs, as well as in national and international research projects in the field of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

She has actively contributed to scientific output in her area, with over 200 presentations at national and international conferences and more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

She is a member of several scientific societies, including the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV), the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (SEMFyC), and both GeSIDA and GeHEP of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC). She also served as president of the SEIMC’s STI Study Group until June 2025.

In addition, she coordinated the new clinical and microbiological management guideline for STIs: Consensus Document on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Infections in Adults, Children, and Adolescents, published in November 2024 on the website of the Division for HIV, STI, Viral Hepatitis, and Tuberculosis Control of the Spanish Ministry of Health.

Dr. Michel Ohayon obtained an Interuniversity Diploma in Sexology and Human Sexuality Studies from the Faculty of Medicine at the Cochin campus of the Université Paris-Cité in 2013. Since 2005, he has been working as an assistant practitioner in the Infectious and Tropical Diseases Department at Tenon Hospital in Paris.
In 2010, he founded Le 190, the first LGBT+ community sexual health centre in France, with the support of Sida Info Service and since 2015, Le 190 has been supported by AIDES. Located in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, this centre offers comprehensive care covering information, prevention, screening, treatment and social and psychological support in an accessible and stigma-free environment.
A pioneer in the field of community sexual health, Le 190 has played a key role in raising awareness of emerging phenomena such as chemsex, promoting access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and developing a support approach that integrates the medical, psychological and social dimensions of sexual well-being in a cross-cutting manner.

Dr Gary Whitlock is a consultant in sexual health and HIV and former Service Director at 56 Dean Street, a renowned clinic located in Soho, London. He has extensive experience in the field of sexual health, with a particular focus on HIV care, prevention, and treatment and GBMSM sexual health, including high-resolution anoscopy.

In addition to his clinical work, Dr Whitlock is actively involved in public health initiatives related to HIV prevention, including the promotion of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), and the development of strategies to reduce the stigma surrounding HIV. He is also known for his involvement in the implementation of cutting-edge sexual health management in the LGBTQ+ community, including rapid HIV testing, early diagnosis and rapid initiation of antiretroviral medication.

He has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and promotes research in sexual health and HIV at 56 Dean Street leading studies on PrEP, rapid diagnostics for STIs, HIV cure and HIV treatments and chemsex.

He is also active in professional education and training, having been an invited speaker at over 70 international conferences and meetings, contributing to the ongoing development of healthcare professionals working in sexual health and HIV medicine.

Benjamin Hampel is the medical director of Checkpoint Zurich, Switzerland largest community led clinic for treatment and prevention of HIV.
Besides his clinical work, he is the SwissPrEPared program initiator and director. SwissPrEPared implemented PrEP in Switzerland at a time, where it was neither reimbursed through insurances, nor were affordable generics officially available. It is now Europe largest cohort study, which is still enrolling. With its longitudinal data multiple factors, that impact vulnerability for HIV were so far studied, such as Chemsex, adherence or the use of dating apps.
Benjamin studied medicine in Giessen, Germany, but lives in Switzerland since 2009, where he did his specialization in internal medicine and infectious diseases. He has also an over 25 years history in HIV and LGBT activism.