Dr Barry K H TAM

Member of Executive Board of Hong Kong AIDS Foundation

  • Dr Barry Tam is a clinical psychologist working in a local public hospital, having served people living with HIV (PLWH) since 2016. He did his clinical training at University College London, which has a long history of fighting for equality. Barry is a keen advocate of awareness of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) and ageing with HAND. Promoting hospital-community partnerships, Barry has been involved in HIV-related awareness raising activities for staff and service users in local charities since 2019. In treatment, Barry’s work with PLWH was greatly influenced by ideas from narrative therapy, which advocates the understanding of self as a product through relationships. Barry often questions the process by which people come to describe and explain the world. He invites PLWH to negotiate relationships with themselves and others, especially challenging the discourses of stigma that might have come to dominate their life stories. Barry started the first psychological screening clinic for PLWH attending public hospital in 2017; particularly, this involves identifying and working with people facing disclosure issues given HIV-related stigma. Apart from providing support at the individual level, he was inspired to join Hong Kong AIDS Foundation as an executive board member. Barry also awarded the Champion of IAS Me and My Healthcare Provider 2022.