APMG_group members

Dave Burrows

Dave is a director of APMG and is based in Sydney.
He has worked on HIV and drug issues since 1987.
Dave worked in Sydney with a non-government, community-based agency specifically targeting injecting drug users with HIV prevention, education, care and support services. The agency became a world leader in developing targeted education campaigns for specific subpopulations of injecting drug users and in developing innovative care and support services and community-based research.
Dave has worked as Deputy Director of Australia's national AIDS NGO, conducting national policy work and supervising the organization’s Policy, Publications and Administration teams.
Since 1996, Dave has worked as a consultant on HIV and drug use issues in 34 countries, assisting all relevant UN and global organisations, several bilateral government aid agencies and many international non-government organizations in a wide range of tasks.
Dave has served two terms on the Global Fund's Technical Review Panel and is widely published on HIV and drug use issues.

Lou McCallum

Lou is a director of APMG and is also now based in Sydney, after four years in Geneva.
He has worked in the response to HIV in a variety of roles since 1983. Lou is a nurse with a background in public policy. He has managed AIDS home and community programs and was Executive Director of Australia’s national AIDS NGO.
Lou has a background in paediatric nursing, nursing service management and public policy
Lou worked alongside some friends and colleagues in the early part of Sydney's response to HIV in the gay community, setting up volunteer emotional support and home-care programs, providing community support in outpatient clinics and providing VCT counselling
He has worked as a HIV and development consultant since 1998, focussing on technical assistance for national and provincial AIDS policy development and implementation and strengthening of the civil society response to AIDS.
Lou is an experienced adult learning trainer and has prepared and conducted training programs for a wide range of health and community workers.
Lou is also a consumer health advocate and has served two terms as national chairperson of the Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia.

Scott Berry

Scott is APMG's coordiantor for the Asia/Pacific region and he is based in our Bangkok office
Scott's work spans senior management, policy and service development across government and non-government organisations
He has extensive experience in the design and management of prevention, treatment, care and support services for people with, and affected by HIV
Scott has managed community care services for the AIDS Council of New South Wales and HIV positive living services for the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations
Scott has also worked as a Policy Analyst in the AIDS Bureau of the NSW Health Department and directed HIV services at the Queensland AIDS Council

Andy Quan

Andy has worked in the field of HIV Prevention and Care and lesbian and gay rights for fourteen years.
He started his career as the coordinator for the International Lesbian and Gay Association based in Brussels and then worked for the gay men's HIV prevention agency, Rubberstuffers, in London, U.K.
He worked as the International Policy Officer for the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations for nine years, and has worked as the Project Manager for Asia for the Collaborative Fund for HIV Treatment Preparedness since 2005
Much of Andy's work has focused on the importance of community involvement and affected communities in responding to HIV. Other areas of expertise have included community involvement in HIV vaccine development, access to HIV treatment, working with men who have sex with men, and regional organising and communication.
He has conducted consultancy work for the Coalition of Asia-Pacific Regional Networks on HIV (the Seven Sisters), the Commission on AIDS in Asia, Policy Project, WHO, and the Global Fund.
Andy is a skilled facilitator and speaks Spanish and French.

Ruth Birgin

Ruth Birgin has worked as a harm reduction specialist for over eighteen years throughout Australia and Asia.
Ruth has substantive experience in working with the groups most affected by HIV in Asia, particularly injecting drug users and sex workers.
She has worked extensively in Indonesia, Nepal, India, Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Burma.
She is proficient in Bahasa Indonesia
As a long-term technical adviser for the Centre for Harm Reduction on the AusAID-funded HIV Regional Project, Ruth provided technical assistance to this complex project in southern China and other parts of the Asia/Pacific region. Ruth has written training and TA materials for a wide range of audiences.
Ruth worked for the World Health Organization Regional Office in New Delhi (2004), and developed the WHO Bi-regional Strategy for Harm Reduction (2005-2009).
She is familiar with the relevant UN organisations and INGOs involved in HIV/AIDS activity in the region, as well as the issues faced by injecting drug users and sex workers at community level in different parts of Asia.
Ruth has in-depth technical knowledge and her expertise cuts across both community, clinical and research sectors.
Ruth has maintained an active interest in Australian drug user organisations (she is currently a Director on the Board of the Queensland Injectors Health Network) and was recently contracted by AIVL to research and write a scoping report to inform the AIVL component of the AusAID Consortium proposal.

Sam Avrett

Sam is based in New York and has worked with APMG to support the All-Ukrainian Network of PLWH in developing capacity for national monitoring and evaluation, and to support the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) in organizational development.
Sam is also working with Katerina Jiresova to prepare and APMG training curriculum on Sex Worker Program Management.
Sam’s other work includes support for a global MSM Initiative of the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and a US-focused Syringe Access Fund administered by Tides Foundation. Sam was a founding Board member of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC) and has been a consultant to the Alliance for Microbicide Development.

Julie Hamblin

Julie is a highly respected Australian lawyer with an extensive background in HIV and AIDS law and human rights. Over the past 15 years, she has undertaken consultancy work on legal and ethical issues associated with the HIV epidemic in more than 20 countries in Asia, Africa and Central and Eastern Europe.
Her work has focused on integrating ethical, legal and human rights concerns into responses to HIV/AIDS at both the national and community levels, including building partnerships between policy-makers and those affected by the epidemic; developing appropriate legislative frameworks to support HIV policy; and promoting advocacy for people living with HIV and affected communities.

Tim Leach

Tim has extensive experience in HIV policy and advocacy.
He has worked as a senior manager in a national HIV NGO, responsible for managing a diverse national policy team.
Tim has worked in policy at the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and in the policy unit of the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board.
He has designed and delivered HIV stigma and discrimination training for senior NGO staff in China, and training on participatory policy development for those working in HIV responses in South Asia and the Middle East.
Tim has conducted numerous training courses for health care workers in the Papua New Guinea government and church-based health sectors, as well as governance and skills building training for Igat Hope, the positive people’s organisation in PNG.
He has undertaken capacity building with workers from HIV NGOs in India, particularly in relation to advocacy, and collaborated with Asia-Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (APN+) in the development of a range of resources, including a report on stigma and discrimination in the Greater Mekong Region

Shane Moore

Shane has extensive experience in NGO capacity building both in Australia and aboard. He has developed, implemented and evaluated informal and formal harm reduction drug education workshops for government and non-government agencies in the area of injecting drug use, blood borne diseases, opiate overdose prevention, behaviour change communication, needle and syringe provision, occupational health and safety for drop-in centres, detoxification and withdrawal management, counselling issues and drug education from a harm reduction perspective.
Shane is a highly skilled trainer with a strong background in designing and delivering innovative training curricula and technical guidelines. He has conducted programs targeting a diverse range of groups including injecting drug users, sex workers, health professionals, teachers and students, police, prison staff and detainees, and commercial businesses.
In Australia, Shane has worked with the Western Australia Alcohol and Drug Authority (Shane coordinated the Authority’s BBV services, and designed then implemented an opiate overdose prevention project (which won the 2001 Premiers Award in Excellence - Social or Community Development).
Shane has provided technical support on HIV/AIDS and drug use issues in several Asian countries. Specific areas have included drop-in-centre management, peer education, outreach work, counseling, developing a manual for primary health care services for WHO Myanmar, and guidelines for Needle and Syringe Program implementation for WHO Vietnam.In addition to in-house expertise, APMG draws on an extensive international network of skilled and experienced consultants to work with local partners to develop a strong, sustainable national and local HIV response.