Dr Vanessa Apea

Dr Vanessa Apea

Medical Director

Dr Vanessa Apea became a Medical Director at Preventx in 2022. With Dr John White, she jointly oversees all clinical aspects of Preventx’s UK operations.

She is a consultant physician with 20 years of clinical experience, currently specialising in Genitourinary Medicine and HIV at Barts Health NHS Trust where she is also research lead in Sexual Health.

She is also an honorary senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, where she recently held the role of deputy academic lead for equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Vanessa received her medical degree from Guys, King’s and St Thomas’ Medical School and is a former Fulbright Scholar, with a Master of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health in the USA.

She is a health services researcher with an established track record of exploring and promoting health equity in marginalised populations and is the medical lead of NAZ, a charity dedicated to sexual health services for racially minoritized communities.

GMC number: 6076591

Roles and responsibilities at Preventx

  • Overseeing all clinical aspects of STI testing and reporting
  • Supporting strategic development and delivery of Preventx services

Specialist areas

  • Sexual health
  • Women’s health
  • Public health
  • Health equity
  • Service innovation
  • STI and HIV diagnostics in resource-rich and lower- and middle-income settings
  • Community-based participatory research

Qualifications and memberships

  • Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ School of Medicine, London)
  • Intercalated Bachelor of Science, Physiology (King’s College London)
  • Master of Public Health (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)
  • Diploma in Genitourinary Medicine
  • Diploma of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare
  • Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare Registered Trainer
  • British Association of Sexual Health and HIV STIF Trainer
  • HARP PhD Fellowship
  • Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians

Professional memberships

  • British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH)
  • British HIV Association (BHIVA)
  • British Medical Association
  • University of Ghana Medical Centre Research Faculty

Guideline authorship and committee groups

British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) UK guidelines for the management of syphilis 2024 (BASHH, 2024). https://www.bashh.org/_userfiles/pages/files/syphilis_2024.pdf

British HIV Association Standards of care for people living with HIV 2018 (BHIVA, 2018). https://www.bhiva.org/standards-of-care-2018

Chair of the BASHH National Audit Group https://www.bashh.org/professionals/bashh_groups/43/national_audit_group/public/

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research NetworkAdvisory Group for Research Inclusivity and Participation at Study Sites

UK Health Security Agency SHARE/LEADS Advisory Group
Enhanced surveillance of people newly diagnosed with HIV (SHARE: Surveillance of HIV Acquired Recently: Enhanced) and those diagnosed late (LEADS: Late HIV Diagnoses Enhanced Surveillance)

External Independent Advisory Board of the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Blood Borne and Sexually Transmitted Infections https://bbsti.hpru.nihr.ac.uk/about/our-team?category=External+Advisory+Board

Selected research and publications

See a full list of Vanessa’s research and publications

Health inequalities

  • The under-representation of racially minoritised doctors in academic general practice training. Howe A, Orkin C, Apea V. BJGP Open. Published online December 21, 2023. https://bjgpopen.org/content/8/2/BJGPO.2023.0136
  • Ethnicity and acute hospital admissions: Multi-center analysis of routine hospital data. Wan YI, Robbins AJ, Apea VJ, Orkin CM, Pearse RM, Puthucheary ZA, Prowle JR. eClinicalMedicine. 2021 Aug 19:101077. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34611614/
  • Acute Kidney Injury in COVID-19: multicentre prospective analysis of registry data. Wan YI, Bien Z, Apea VJ, Orkin CM, Dhairyawan R, Kirwan CJ, Pearse RM, Puthucheary ZA, Prowle JR. Clinical Kidney Journal. 2021 Mar 27. https://academic.oup.com/ckj/article/14/11/2356/6192815
  • Ethnicity and outcomes in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 infection in East London: an observational cohort study. Apea VJ, Wan YI, Dhairyawan R, et al. BMJ Open 2021;11:e042140. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/1/e042140

HIV Engagement

  • Recommendations for defining preventable HIV-related mortality for public health monitoring in the era of Getting to Zero: an expert consensus. Croxford SE, Martin V, Lucas SB, Miller RF, Post FA, Anderson J, Apea VJ et al. Lancet HIV. 2023 Mar;10(3):e195-e201. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhiv/article/PIIS2352-3018(22)00363-0/abstract
  • BASHH 2018 UK national audit of HIV partner notification. Bull L, Apea V, Wiggins H, Davies S, Saxon C, Hughes A, Curtis H, Sullivan A, members of the British Society for Sexual Health and HIV National Audit Group. International journal of STD & AIDS. 2021 Apr 18:0956462421990281. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956462421990281
  • Long-term safety and efficacy of tricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide vs emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate for HIV-1 pre-exposure prophylaxis: week 96 results from a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. Ogbuagu O, Ruane PJ, Podzamczer D, Salazar LC, Henry K, Asmuth DM, Wohl D, Gilson R, Shao Y, Ebrahimi R, Cox S. The Lancet HIV. 2021 Jul 1;8(7):e397-407. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhiv/article/PIIS2352-3018(21)00071-0/abstract

Other Clinicians

Dr. John WhiteAdam Black Holly Kidson