Kiersten Simmons

Kiersten Simmons serves as a Medical Doctoral Fellow (Research Fellow) at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), where she bridges clinical practice as an HIV/sexual health physician with research leadership. She concurrently chairs two major research networks: the Kent, Surrey, and Sussex Women’s Health Research Network Group and the Coastal Communities Research Network Group (Sussex), driving community-engaged health equity initiatives across Southeast England.

Her research portfolio centers on healthcare inequity with specific focus areas including:

• Women's health access for midlife women (40-65 years)
• HIV care across diverse populations
• Coastal community health disparities
• Implementation science through co-production methodologies

Her current PhD investigates sexual health service barriers in underserved East Sussex communities using mixed-methods approaches with active Patient Participant Involvement.

Recent publications (2024-2025) demonstrate a clear trajectory toward qualitative studies of women's health access, complemented by systematic reviews of international evidence. Her HIV-related work maintains clinical relevance through studies on vaccination impacts, pregnancy management, and departmental wellbeing.

Scientific recognition includes:

• British HIV Association Research Award (2024, £7,755) for midlife women's HIV research
• British HIV Association Implementation Science Scholarship (2019, £2,700) for frailty studies in aging HIV populations

Dr. Simmons secures targeted research funding while maintaining active NHS clinical practice. Her teaching spans undergraduate medical education to the BSMS Global Health Masters program, consistently integrating social determinants of health frameworks. She champions interdisciplinary collaboration through her research networks, which serve as platforms for community-driven health equity solutions.

Her leadership of the Kent, Surrey, and Sussex Women’s Health Research Network Group enables large-scale co-produced projects like The POWER: East Sussex and The POWER: Coastal Communities, directly translating research into community health interventions through structured patient-professional partnerships.