Chloe Orkin
World-renowned HIV researcher Chloe Orkin chose her career path after losing her friend Steven to the virus in medical school. Orkin has since committed herself to help others with HIV have a different experience. She is currently a professor of HIV medicine at Barts Health NHS Trust in London and previously served as the Chair of the British HIV Association, where she provided medical evidence to challenge discriminatory laws against people living with HIV. She was also the lead researcher on a trial of the first-ever monthly injectable HIV drug and fronted the “Going Viral” HIV testing campaign. Currently, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Orkin has switched her focus to coordinating the research of the pandemic-causing illness at the five hospitals of Barts Health NHS Trust. Aside from her work with viruses, Orkin is vice president of the Medical Women’s Federation, where she fights to achieve gender equality in medicine — something she’s seen a major lack of in the industry. “Language [in medicine] is important, and it is often heteronormative and used to entrench the patriarchy,” Orkin tells GO. “We can change that by using different words that empower women and by being visible. I have short blue hair and believe that a doctor can look like anything — not limited to a man in a suit.” —IL
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