Interview with new YING Chair Tristan Barber

Why did you become an EACS member?

I became an EACS member as I valued so highly the wonderful EACS events like the Summer School and EACS conferences. Most of all, it is a brilliant opportunity to network with European colleagues and share data and knowledge, and maintain and improve high standards of HIV care. In addition, I had previously worked with another organisation to support HIV educational activities in South East and Eastern Europe, as well as in the Middle East and North Africa. I think EACS has a role in ensuring that both clinicians working in HIV and people living with or at risk of HIV are supported not only within Europe but also on its borders. This is particularly important in areas of high stigma and deprivation, and where political and economic problems mean that general health systems may be weak or unstable.

How have you been active in the EACS network? How long have you been involved in YING?

I have been very active during my time as an EACS member, particularly in organising the EACS Conference pre-educational course with Dr Laura Waters and, at the beginning, Dr Mike Youle.  I have been involved with YING for many years, after Prof. Nathan Clumeck established it. I have been part of the Steering Committee under the chairship of Dr Annemarie Wensing, and have spoken at and chaired sessions at three YING conferences. More recently, under the lead of Dr Casper Rokx and Dr Marta Vasylyev, we, at YING, were involved in providing a support network for HIV physicians leaving Ukraine, and collecting and delivering antiretroviral medicines to Ukraine in collaboration with Prof. Miłosz Parczewski and the Polish Scientific AIDS Society.

How has the network developed since you have become a member?

The YING network has become wider and is now more established. I think our goals are also clearer and more people want to participate in YING events. We have launched the YING Journal Club which is an online monthly event where people can disseminate and discuss the latest information on a wide range of topics. Importantly, I think younger members see YING as a way to meet and connect with colleagues and researchers across Europe and beyond, and to form bonds that help them for life, both personally and professionally.

What is the most valuable aspect of the YING network for you?

The most valuable aspect of YING is definitely the people! It is a fun and informal network through which people learn, but also feel able to raise concerns, discuss problems, and find solutions they can use in their own local environments to enhance their delivery of research programmes for people living with HIV.

As the new YING Chair, what are you looking forward to? YING activities coming up etc.

As the new YING Chair, I am really looking forward to widening our network of participants and making things feel informal and accessible. I am looking forward to meeting more YINGers and looking at ways to encourage more people into YING. I am tremendously excited about the EACS Conference in Warsaw in 2023 and, also of course about the next YING Conference in 2024. I am always open to ideas and very happy for people to contact me with their thoughts about new ideas or programmes we might run via YING, and what we can improve to make YING even better, now and for the future.

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