CASCADE News

Presenting at AIDS Impact in Casablanca

In May 2025, Dr Emily Nicholls and Dr Shema Tariq attended AIDS Impact in Casablanca, Morocco on behalf of CASCADE. 

Dr Nicholls gave an oral presentation titled “Risk and responsibility among people with recently acquired HIV before and after PrEP rollout in the UK: a comparative qualitative study.” The study explored how the introduction of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has influenced people’s understandings of HIV risk, responsibility, and diagnosis.

The analysis drew on two qualitative datasets. The first comprised interviews conducted in 2015 as part of a sub-study of the UK Register of HIV Seroconverters (n=21), before PrEP became widely available. The second set came from interviews with UK participants in the CASCADE Collaboration between 2023–2024 (n=11), offering insights into experiences after PrEP had been introduced through the NHS.

Comparing accounts across these two time periods revealed important shifts. Participants interviewed before PrEP often connected HIV acquisition to their emotional circumstances at the time, and expressed concerns about community complacency. In contrast, those interviewed after PrEP tended to emphasise barriers to initiating or sustaining PrEP use.

These findings highlight how biomedical advances like PrEP not only prevent infections but also reshape the social and emotional context of HIV acquisition. Recognising these changing narratives may help improve psychological support at the point of diagnosis.

CASCADE Toledo Meeting

The CASCADE team met for our fourth annual meeting in Toledo, Spain. Members from the AQUIVIH, FHDH, PRIMO, CoRIS, AMACS, ATHENA, InfCareHIV, SAC and UCL met on the 26th and 27th March 2025 to present the most recent findings of the CASCADE dataset, discuss ongoing work and plan the future of CASCADE. We thank Argyro Karakosta, Emily Nicholls, Nikos Pantazis, Achilleas Stamoulopoulos, Inés Suárez-García and Linda Wittkop for their presentations and John Gill for chairing the meeting. 

CASCADE Vilamoura Meeting

The CASCADE team were delighted to meet for our third annual meeting, this year taking place in Vilamoura, Portugal. Members from the CoRIS, UCL, InfCare, SAC, PRIMO, FHDH, ATHENA and AMACS met on the 20th and 21st March 2024 to present research from the CASCADE dataset and discuss future analyses and directions to take CASCADE. Many thanks to our presenters: Elisa Ruiz Burga, Belen Alejos, Emily Nicholls, Argyro Karakosta, Nikos Pantazis, Achilleas Stamoulopoulos, Linda Wittkop, Kholoud Porter, and the meeting chair John Gill! 

Tribute to Chris Sandford

We are very sad to learn of the death of Chris Sandford, one of CASCADE's community representatives.  Chris joined the CASCADE team in 2021, providing expertise and leadership in patient and public involvement.  He played a key role in refining the design of CASCADE and was a much-loved and valued member of our team. 

Chris had been living with HIV for over 40 years.  He was determined to use his experiences to improve the lives of others with HIV.  He was a patient representative in the Bloomsbury Clinic at Mortimer Market Centre, a governor of the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, Education Director of the National HIV Story Trust, and delivered university teaching at UCL.

One of his last public engagements was a speech at a recent parliamentary launch of a report on older people with HIV, highlighting the importance of continued investment in HIV.

Chris leaves a huge legacy in the field of HIV, and will be missed by all those who knew and worked with him.