Cohort 4

Aidan Ireland

  • ST5 Trainee Doctor
  • North East England
  • 2023

In my 12 months as a Topol Digital Fellow I will develop digital tools which help people living with HIV and their clinicians make informed shared decisions about HIV medication options.

My Topol fellowship problem / project:

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has transformed HIV into a diagnosis which today is associated with a normal life expectancy for most individuals. Choosing the right ART for an individual is highly complex and depends on many factors including specific aspects of the immune system, current viral load, kidney function and many others. This contributes to low engagement of individuals with choosing their ART.

A digital tool which can use routine data to generate a shortlist of ART options, with information about each choice, has the potential to give individuals more of a say in their ART while also saving time for clinicians and possibly generating cost-savings overall. I believe the complexity and opacity of ART choices for people living with HIV could be unlocked with the right digital healthcare solution, with clear benefits for patient, clinicians, and the NHS.

I graduated from University College London in 2016, and have been working in the North East of England since then, training in infectious diseases.

I provide care for patients with a range of conditions, including HIV, and I believe care could be further improved with the help of the right digital tools.