Dr Rob James:
We are sorry to lose Rob as a Trustee but immensely grateful for his support of the Charity over the last six years. He has been a source of great knowledge and humour, offering valuable insights into the events of the last three decades.
“I was honoured to be asked early on to become a Trustee with the Foundation as Martin had been my HIV consultant for over 20 years since I moved to Brighton in the mid-1990s. I had been a patient of the NHS with haemophilia since I was a child and he was such a very different type of doctor to the ones I had met before, much more willing to listen and discuss things and we had some things in common. Not only had he and I moved to Brighton within a year of each other but I had studied at the same college in Somerset as he had. It has been a great experience for me to be part of a group of determined and caring people with such innovative ideas about changing the impact of HIV on the city of Brighton. I think the work of the Foundation in the few years it has been running has been quite astounding; initially the driving force in making Brighton the first Fast Track City in this country, the projects on testing homeless people for a number of blood borne viruses, the vending machines making HIV testing available in ways more comfortable for people to use and the Martin Fisher bus in its distinctive pink, and purple tulips.”
We wish him well for the future and particularly with his efforts and input into the Infected Blood Inquiry for which he is a core participant.
Dr Debbie Williams:
Debbie has been a Trustee of the Foundation since it was established in 2015 and has been a constant source of strength, stability and wise words. She has been an HIV consultant in Brighton since 1998 and her fairness, dedication and kindness to her patient cohort has translated easily into similar indispensible qualities for the Charity. She is the current joint Clinical Lead for HIV and Sexual Health Services which has provided a useful oversight of local commissioned services and how they might develop srategically alongside the voluntary and charitable sector.
She has always enthusiastically thrown herself (and her family… and her dog) into fund-raising and other promotional opportunities, often drifting outside her comfort zone to take part in a variety of events. We will miss her greatly, but are reassured by her assurance she will continue to be our swimmer in the Brighton Triathlon, runner in the Run-2-Music and ‘marcher’ in the Pride Parade!
