Realize is pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2022 Elisse Zack Award for Excellence in HIV and Rehabilitation is Darren Brown. The Award will be presented virtually at the 2022 Annual Meeting.

Quoting from the Nomination:

“Darren is a physiotherapist and international leader in HIV and rehabilitation, making remarkable strides in research and practice for advancing models of HIV and rehabilitation for people living with HIV. Darren personifies the values of the Elisse Zack Award; he has devoted his career to advance rehabilitation for people living with episodic conditions.  [He] leads the HIV rehabilitation service at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which is the largest HIV centre in Europe and the United Kingdom (UK). Darren is an exceptional physiotherapist, and longstanding leader in the field, a superb ally for Canadians living with HIV who is always sharing with Canadians his passion and expertise for HIV and rehabilitation research, education and clinical practice. Darren goes above and beyond, bridging the fields of episodic illness and rehabilitation, and advancing rehabilitation for people living with HIV and other episodic conditions.”

Darren Brown is a cis-gendered (pronouns he/him/his), gay, white man, of English and Irish heritage, living in London, UK. He is a clinical academic Physiotherapist specialising in HIV, disability and rehabilitation. Darren leads the HIV rehabilitation service at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Europe’s Largest HIV centre. He is the Vice-Chair of Rehabilitation in HIV Association (RHIVA), HIV/AIDS special interest group coordinator of World Physiotherapy subgroup IPT-HOPE, and steering committee member of Canada International HIV Rehabilitation Research Collaborative (CIHRRC). Darren was awarded an NIHR funded Masters of Clinical Research (MRes) in 2019 and conducts both quantitative and qualitative research about disability and rehabilitation among people living with HIV in the UK and internationally. Darren contributes to national and international programmes focusing on disability inclusion across all responses to HIV. Darren contracted COVID-19 in March 2020, reinfected April 2022, and has experience of living with Long COVID and episodic disability. He is a patient advocate for safe Long COVID rehabilitation practice and research, and calls for the greater involvement and meaningful engagement of people living with Long COVID in all responses to COVID-19. Darren is co-founder and inaugural Chair of Long COVID Physio, an international peer support, education and advocacy patient-led association of physiotherapists living with Long COVID and allies. Darren has contributed to national and international responses to Long COVID and is an invited expert contributing to World Health Organization Guideline Development Groups on COVID-19 and Post COVID-19 Condition (Long COVID) rehabilitation.