Professor Jonathan Elford

Chair in Evidence-based Healthcare

tel: 020 7040 5702

Current and recent research projects

How do sexual health services in Britain meet – or fail to meet – the needs of ethnic minority men who have sex with men? 2006-2008. Funding: Medical Research Council

Principal investigator. Co-investigators, Dr Jane Anderson (Homerton University Hospital) and Dr Nicola Low (Universities of Bristol and Berne). This project will examine sexual health among black and ethnic minority men who have sex with men in Britain.

Translating effective behavioural interventions – sexual and reproductive health needs of black Caribbean women. 2006-2008. Funding: Medical Research Council

Co-investigator. Principal investigator(s), Dr John Imrie/Gillian Elam (UCL).
This project will examine whether an intervention which successfully reduced sexually transmitted infections among African-American and Hispanic women in the USA can work among ethnic minority women in the UK.

Epidemiology of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the UK. 2004-2007 Funding: Health Protection Agency

First supervisor. Second supervisor Dr Barry Evans (HPA). An HPA epidemiologist (Sarah Dougan) has used national HIV/AIDS surveillance data to examine emerging epidemiological trends among MSM in the UK.

HIV in East London: ethnicity, gender and risk. 2003-2007. Funding: St Bartholomew’s and Royal London Charitable Foundation and City University London

Principal investigator. Co-investigator Dr Jane Anderson (Homerton University Hospital). This project examines the epidemiological, clinical and socio-economic characteristics of 1700 HIV positive patients attending NHS outpatient HIV clinics in East London including 700 black African heterosexual men and women and 750 (mostly white) gay men with diagnosed HIV.

Narrative online: developing a DIPEx website on HIV (www.dipex.org/hiv). 2004-2006. Funding: City University London, Department of Health, Qsoft consulting and Terrence Higgins Trust
Principal investigator. Co-investigators, Sue Ziebland (Oxford University), Dr Ian Williams (UCL) and Dr Jane Anderson (Homerton University Hospital). This project has developed a DIPEx HIV website, based on qualitative interviews with 25 gay men and 25 black African heterosexual men and women living with HIV (interviews conducted by Dr Damien Ridge).

The Internet and research methodology. 2002-2006. Funding: Economic and Social Research Council PhD studentship

Joint supervisor with Professor Dick Wiggins (City University London). This studentship supported a PhD student who examined methodological issues in relation to using the Internet for research (both quantitative and qualitative). This was linked to the MRC-funded project investigating the Internet and HIV risk (described above).

The Internet and HIV. 2002-2004. Funding: Medical Research Council

Principal investigator. Co-investigators, Professor Graham Hart (MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit), Professor Lorraine Sherr (Royal Free and University College Medical School). This project explored the Internet’s emerging role as a sexual risk environment among London gay men using both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Behavioural surveillance. 1999-2006. Funding: Camden and Islington Health Authority/Primary Care Trusts
Principal investigator for the gym component of this project. Co-investigators Professors Graham Hart and Professor Lorraine Sherr (Royal Free and University College Medical School). This project has monitored HIV/STI risk behaviours among London gay men since 1998.

Recent publications

Elford J, Bolding G, Sherr L, Hart G
No evidence of an increase in serosorting with casual partners among HIV negative gay men in London, 1998-2005
AIDS 2007;21:243-245

Elford J, Ibrahim F, Bukutu C, Anderson J
Sexual behaviour of people living with HIV in London: implications for HIV transmission
AIDS 2007;21 Suppl 1:S63-70

Elford J, Bolding G, Davis M, Sherr L, Hart G
Barebacking among HIV positive gay men in London
Sexually Transmitted Diseases 2007;34:93-98

Dougan S, Evans BG, Macdonald N, Goldberg D, Gill ON, Fenton KA, Elford J
HIV among gay and bisexual men in the United Kingdom: twenty five years of public health surveillance
Epidemiology and Infection 2007 (online first)

Ridge D, Ziebland S, Anderson J, Williams I, Elford J
Like a prayer: the role of spirituality and religion for people living with HIV in the UK

Sociology of Health and Illness 2007 (in press)

Ridge D, Ziebland S, Anderson J, Williams I, Elford J
Positive prevention: contemporary issues facing HIV positive people negotiating safer sex in the UK

Social Science and Medicine 2007; 65:755-770

Dougan S, Evans BG, Elford J
Sexually transmitted infections in western Europe among HIV positive men who have sex with men
Sexually Transmitted Diseases 2007; 34:783-790

Bolding G, Davis M, Hart G, Sherr L, Elford J
Where young MSM meet their first sexual partner: the role of the Internet
AIDS and Behavior 2007; 4:522-526

Evans A, Wiggins R, Mercer C, Bolding G, Elford J
Sampling men who have sex with men in Britain: a comparison of national probability and self-selected Internet samples
Sexually Transmitted Infections 2007;83:200-205

Imrie J, Elford J, Kippax S, Hart G
Bio-medical HIV prevention - and social science
Lancet 2007;370:10-11

Prost A, Elford J, Imrie J, Petticrew M, Hart G
Social, behavioural and intervention research among people of sub-Saharan African origin living with HIV in the UK and Europe: a scoping review
AIDS and Behavior 2007(online first)

Dougan S, Elford J, Chadborn TR, Brown AE, Roy K, Murphy G, Gill ON, on behalf of the group investigating rising HIV diagnoses among MSM in the UK
Does the recent increase in HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men in the United Kingdom reflect a rise in HIV incidence or increased uptake of HIV testing?
Sexually Transmitted Infections 2007;83:120-125

Evans A, Elford J, Bolding G, Wiggins R
A comparison of item nonresponse in web and pen-and-paper surveys of sexual behaviour
Methodological Innovations Online 2007 (in press)

Dougan S, Balogun MA, Elford J, Brant L, Sinka K, Evans BG, Ramsay M
Can current national surveillance systems monitor sexual transmission of hepatitis C among HIV-infected men who have sex with men in England and Wales?
BMC Public Health 2007;7:7

Pequegnat W, Rosser BRS, Bowen A, Bull SS, DiClemente RJ, Bockting WO, Elford J, Fishbein M, Gurak L, Horvath K, Konstan J, Noar S, Ross MW, Sherr L, Spiegel D, Zimmerman R.
Conducting Internet-based HIV/STD prevention survey research: Considerations in design and evaluation
AIDS & Behavior 2007;11:505-21

Elford J, Anderson J, Ibrahim F, Bukutu C
HIV in East London: ethnicity, gender and risk. Design and methods
BMC Public Health 2006;6:150
available at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/6/150

Elford J
Changing patterns of sexual behaviour in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy
Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases 2006;19:1926-1932

Bolding G, Davis M, Hart G, Sherr L, Elford J
Heterosexual men and women who seek sex through the Internet
International Journal of STD and AIDS 2006;17:530-534

Bolding G, Hart G, Sherr L, Elford J
Use of crystal methamphetamine among London gay men
Addiction 2006;101:1622-30.

Davis M, Hart G, Bolding G, Sherr L, Elford J
E-dating, identity and HIV prevention: theorising sexualities, risk and network society
Sociology of Health and Illness 2006;28:457-478

Davis M, Hart G, Bolding G, Sherr L, Elford J
Sex and the Internet: gay men, risk reduction and serostatus
Culture, Health and Sexuality 2006;8:161-174

Lipton M, Sherr L, Elford J, Rustin M, Clayton W
Women living with facial hair; the psychological and behavioural burden
Journal of Psychosomatic Research 2006;61:160-167

Elford J, Bolding G, Sherr L, Hart G
High risk sexual behaviour among London gay men: no longer increasing
AIDS 2005;19:2171-2174

Elford J, Hart G
HAART, viral load and sexual risk behaviour
AIDS 2005;19:205-207

Bolding G, Davis M, Hart G, Sherr L, Elford J
Gay men who look for sex on the Internet: is there more HIV/STI risk with online partners?
AIDS 2005;19:961-968

Dougan S, Elford J, Sinka K, Fenton KA, Evans BG
Men who have sex with men who are born abroad and diagnosed with HIV in England and Wales: an epidemiological perspective
International Journal of STD and AIDS 2005;16:618-621

Dougan S, Elford J, Rice B, Brown AE, Sinka K, Evans BG, Gill ON, Fenton K
Epidemiology of HIV among black and minority ethnic men who have sex with men in England and Wales
Sexually Transmitted Infections 2005;81:345-350

Clayton W, Lipton M, Elford J, Rustin M, Sherr L
A randomised controlled trial of laser treatment among hirsute women with polycystic ovary syndrome
Brit J Dermatology 2005;152:986-992

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