Chloe Orkin

Orkin was born in Johannesburg.[1] She joined the University of the Witwatersrand as a medical student.[2] She trained as a physician in the largest hospital in Soweto in the 1990s.[3] At the time, between 30 and 40% of hospital inpatients were infected with HIV,[4] and Orkin herself lost 10 colleagues to AIDS. She became increasingly interested in virology and immunology.[1] She graduated from medical school in 1995 before moving to the United Kingdom.[5] She completed her specialist training in HIV/AIDS and Genitourinary Medicine at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.[5] She was ten years younger than the other specialist registrars.[1] Towards the end of her specialist training, Orkin moved to Botswana to establish an HIV/AIDS treatment programme.

In the mid 2000s Orkin joined Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry as a consultant physician.[1] Her work considers the development of antiretroviral therapies and blood-bourne virus testing.[6] Orkin has been involved with several initiatives to increase testing rates of HIV/AIDS, and in 2015 she launched Going Viral, a week to raise awareness of blood-borne viruses.[5][7] The week-long campaign offered HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C testing in emergency departments around the United Kingdom. It proposed an opt-out blood-borne disease testing strategy.[8] Over 3% of the cohort, who were tested as part of their routine blood tests, were infected with blood-borne diseases, and the prevalence was strongest in men aged between 35 and 55.[8] The campaign was supported by several high profile celebrities, including Tim Westwood, Elton John amd Sadie Frost.[9]

She was the first to lead a phase III clinical trial into the use of injectable anti-retrovirals. After appearing on ITV News to discuss the treatment,[10] she was attacked on social media by misogynistic and homophobic slurs.[1][11] This experience led her to become more aware of the gender and sexuality-based discrimination. Shortly after she was elected President of the Medical Women's Federation.[12][13] Orkin has served as Chair of the British HIV Association.[14][15]

In 2018 Orkin and the British HIV Association announced their commitment to the Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U) campaign.[16][17]

Orkin is openly lesbian.[18] She lives in London with her wife Flick Thorley, who has also been involved in specialist HIV work, both in the UK and abroad. They share a home with their three dogs and two cats.