Axel J. Schmidt

Assistant Professor of Sexual Health and STIs

Dr Axel Jeremias Schmidt is an epidemiologist (MPH) and clinician (Dr. med.) who joined LSHTM as an honorary research fellow in 2012. He was the co-ordinator and lead scientist for the original EMIS Study (2009-2011), working in close collaboration with Sigma Research. Since 2012 he has co-ordinated the EMIS network and related publications. He has nine years of experience in offline and online sexual health surveys among MSM and worked for the German Robert-Koch-Institute and Social Science Research Centre Berlin, and has repeatedly served as a consultant for the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC). As an epidemiologist his research has focussed on hepatitis C transmission, MSM-populations, and MSM-specific outcomes such as HIV/STI prevalence and incidence. As a clinician he has several years of experience in diagnosis and treatment of HIV and sexually transmitted infections, as well as in sexual health counselling. Since 2012 he is based at the Swiss Federal Office for Public Health (as an epidemiologist). He has worked for four years in German and Swiss gay health centres, and between 2014 and 2017 he led the STI service within the Infectious Diseases Department of the Cantonal Hospital of St.Gallen, Switzerland. In May 2017 he joined Sigma and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as regular staff and is centrally involved in EMIS-2017.

Recent journal articles

• Barrett P, O’Donnell K, Fitzgerald M, Schmidt AJ, Hickson F, Quinlan M, Keogh P, O’Connor L, McCartney D, Igoe D (2018) Drug use among men who have sex with men in Ireland: Prevalence and associated factors from a national online survey. International Journal of Drug Policy, published online first 1 December 2018 ;64:5-12 (doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.11.011).
• O'Donnell K, Fitzgerald M, Quinlan M, Hickson F, Keogh P, Schmidt AJ, McCartney D, Barrett P, O'Dea S, Igoe D (2018) Inequalities in HIV testing uptake and needs among men who have sex with men living in Ireland: findings from an internet survey. HIV Medicine, published online first 20 November 2018 (doi:10.1111/hiv.12694).
• Tran H, Ross MW, Diamond PM, Berg RC, Weatherburn P, Schmidt AJ. (2018) Structural validation and multiple group assessment of the short internalized homonegativity scale in homosexual and bisexual men in 38 European countries: results from the European MSM internet survey. Journal of Sex Research, 55(4-5):617-629 (doi:10.1080/00224499.2017.1380158).
• Pachankis JE, Hatzenbuehler ML, Berg RC, Fernández-Dávila P, Mirandola M; Marcus U, Weatherburn P, Schmidt AJ. (2017) Anti-LGBT and anti-immigrant structural stigma: an intersectional analysis of sexual minority men's HIV risk when migrating to or within Europe. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 76(4):356-366 (doi:10.1097/QAI.0000000000001519).
• Pachankis JE, Hatzenbuehler ML, Mirandola M, Weatherburn P, Berg RC, Marcus U, Schmidt AJ (2017) The geography of sexual orientation: structural stigma and sexual attraction, behavior, and identity among men who have sex with men across 38 European countries. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46(5), 1491–1502 (doi:10.1007/s10508-016-0819-y).
• Schmidt AJ, Bourne A, Weatherburn P, Reid D, Marcus U, Hickson F, & The EMIS Network (2016) Illicit drug use among gay and bisexual men in 44 cities: Findings from the European MSM Internet Survey (EMIS). International Journal of Drug Policy, 38:4-12 (doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.09.007).
• den Daas C, Doppen M, Schmidt AJ, Op de Coul E (2016) Determinants of never having tested for HIV among MSM in the Netherlands. BMJ Open, 6(1):e009480 (doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009480).
• Schmidt AJ, Bremer V (2016) Response to the calculation of population attributable fractions (PAFs) of risk factors for hepatitis C transmission. AIDS, 30(10): 1683-4 (doi:10.1097/QAD.0000000000001090).
• Kramer SC, Schmidt AJ, Berg RC, Furegato M, Hospers H, Folch C, Marcus U, & the EMIS Network. Factors associated with unprotected anal sex with multiple non-steady partners in the past 12 months: results from the European Men-Who-Have-Sex-With-Men Internet Survey (EMIS 2010). BMC Public Health, 2016, 16: 47 (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-2691-z).
• Kohler P, Schmidt AJ, Cavassini M, Furrer H, Calmy A, Battegay M, Bernasconi E, Ledergerber B, Vernazza P and the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (2016) The HIV care cascade in Switzerland: reaching the UNAIDS/ WHO targets for patients diagnosed with HIV. AIDS, 29(18): 2509–2515 (doi:10.1097/QAD.0000000000000878).
• Pachankis JE, Hatzenbuehler M, Hickson F, Weatherburn P, Berg RC, Marcus U, Schmidt AJ (2015) Hidden from health: structural stigma, sexual orientation concealment, and HIV across 38 countries in the European MSM Internet Survey. AIDS, 29(10): 1239–1246 (doi:10.1097/QAD.0000000000000724).
• Berg RC, Weatherburn P, Ross MW, Schmidt AJ (2015) The relationship of internalised homonegativity to sexual health and well-being among men who have sex with men in 38 European countries. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 19(3): 285-302 (doi:10.1080/19359705.2015.1024375).
• Marcus U, Hickson F, Weatherburn P, Furegato M, Breveglieri M, Berg R, Schmidt AJ and the EMIS network (2015) Antiretroviral therapy and reasons for not taking it among men having sex with men (MSM) - Results from the European MSM Internet Survey (EMIS). PLoS One, 10(3): e0121047 (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0121047).
• Berg RC, Schmidt AJ, Weatherburn P & the EMIS Network (2015) Transactional sex: Supply and demand among European men who have sex with men (MSM) in the context of local laws. International Journal of Sexual Health, 27(3): 286-302 (doi:10.1080/19317611.2014.982263).
• Schmidt AJ, Falcato L, Zahno B, Burri A, Regenass S, Müllhaupt B, Bruggmann P (2014) Prevalence of hepatitis C in a Swiss sample of men who have sex with men: whom to screen for HCV infection? BMC Public Health, 14(3) (doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-3).