My main research interests relate to psychological and behavioural aspects of sexual health/HIV and Thalassaemia. There are three main inter-related themes to this work: 

1. Psychological elements to individuals’ engagement with HIV and Thalassaemia care. I am currently writing up a cohort study of psychosocial predictors of retention in HIV care in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, which was carried out as part of my Public Health Masters course (and supported by a London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Travel Grant). I am also interested in barriers to HIV testing and am supervising two doctoral projects in this area. I am supervising a study of episodic adherence to chelation therapy in Thalassaemia. I am particularly interested in how affect influences decision making in health contexts.

2. Well being and adjustment in HIV. I have supervised or am supervising Clinical Psychology Doctoral theses on well being in perinatally infected HIV positive adolescents, relationship issues for perinatally infected HIV positive young adults, religion and adjustment in recently diagnosed HIV positive individuals from Sub-Saharan Africa and post natal bonding with infants in the context of an HIV diagnosis during pregnancy.

3. Behaviour change interventions in sexual health/HIV and Thalassaemia. I was a Co-Investigator on an MRC funded multi-centre randomised feasibility trial of a computerised secondary prevention STI/HIV intervention. I have carried out and evaluated training in Motivational Interviewing with HIV health care staff in the UK and South Africa (partly supported by a British Academy small grant). I am planning to develop a chelation adherence intervention in Thalassaemia, based partly on the results of the above study of episodic adherence.