AGM – 30th October 2013: Biographies of Contributors
Mike Podmore, Chair of STOPAIDS Board of Trustees and Policy Manager at International HIV/AIDS
Alliance. Mike has been working on HIV for 9 years firstly at VSO (as Campaigns Officer and VSO
Policy Adviser), and now at the International HIV/AIDS Alliance as Policy Manager. He is co-founder
and co-facilitator of the Caregivers Action Network and co-convenor of Action for Global Health UK.
Mike has been involved with STOPAIDS for 8 years and during that time was chair of the Care and
Support Working Group for 4 years. He has been on the STOPAIDS Board for three years and became
Chair in September 2011.
Pamela Nash was elected MP for Airdrie and Shotts at the 2010 general election, becoming the
youngest MP in parliament, aged just 25. She is chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on HIV
and AIDS and became parliamentary private secretary to Jim Murphy MP, Shadow International
Development Minister in October 2013.
Andrew Jack writes about health and pharmaceuticals for the Financial Times. He was previously
Moscow bureau chief, Paris correspondent, financial correspondent, general reporter and corporate
reporter. He is author of the books Inside Putin’s Russia and The French Exception; has written
numerous articles for medical journals including BMJ and the Lancet; and reports on French
Insurance, Audit Committees, Networking and Work Shadowing. He led the FT’s coverage that won it
the communications award of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 2011; First
Prize in the Stop TB Award for excellence in reporting for 2010; and a Kaiser Family Foundation minifellowship in global health reporting in 2008. He has won the Grand prix de l’association des anciens
élèves du centre des hautes etudes d’assurances, the ACCA accountancy journalist of the year
award, and was a member of an FT team winning the British press awards. He is co-chairman of
Pushkin House, a London-based centre for Russian culture.
Kate Thomson is a leader in global health and development with nearly 30 years of AIDS activism
and is openly living with HIV. She is Head of the Critical Enablers and Civil Society hub at the Global
Fund, a new position that underlines the Global Fund’s strengthened efforts to promote human
rights and deeper partnership with civil society. Thomson, who joins the Global Fund from UNAIDS,
brings extensive experience in policy and advocacy, having worked within civil society organizations
and multilateral institutions with a particular emphasis on people living with HIV and communities at
higher risk.
Adrian Lovett joined ONE in August 2011 as its Europe Executive Director. He leads the
organization’s work seeking to influence governments and build popular support across Europe, in
particular in France, Germany, the UK and at the European institutions in Brussels. Before joining
ONE Adrian had been appointed the first Global Campaign Director of Save the Children
International, where he led Save the Children’s global campaign for newborn and child survival‘EVERY ONE’. Adrian joined Save the Children in June 2007. Prior to his role at Save the Children,
Adrian spent six years as Director of Campaigns & Communications at Oxfam. During this time he
played a leading role in the Make Poverty History coalition and led Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair and
Control Arms campaigns. Prior to this he was Deputy Director of Jubilee 2000, after an earlier career
in local commercial radio and in the office of a Member of Parliament.
Adrian and his wife Steph have two children and live in Oxfordshire, England.
Dr Alvaro Bermejo joined the International HIV/AIDS Alliance as Executive Director in January 2004
from his position as Director of the Health and Care Department of the International Federation of
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The Alliance is a partnership of 37 organisations around the
world that support around 2000 community organisations delivering HIV prevention, treatment and
care services, reaching nearly 3 million people. www.aidsalliance.org
Maria Phelan, Senior Health Advocate. Maria joined Harm Reduction International in 2010 as a
networking and advocacy officer and became senior health advocate in 2013. Maria holds an MA in
Understanding and Securing Human Rights from the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University
of London. Prior to working at Harm Reduction International, she worked for the National Children’s
Bureau coordinating the Children and Young People’s HIV Network and the Terrence Higgins Trust.
At Harm Reduction International she coordinates the European Harm Reduction Network and leads
advocacy activities focused on health related harms.
Kate Harrison has been working in international health and development for 20 years, beginning
with three years living in Uganda as a VSO volunteer. Before Comic Relief, Kate worked at the
International HIV/AIDS Alliance as senior advisor on children and HIV. Five years ago, Kate joined the
International Grants team at Comic Relief, starting as the HIV programme manager, and now with
oversight for health and HIV programmes including maternal, child health and malaria portfolios.