Biography

Dr. Aizat Kulzhabaeva is an epidemiologist and medical researcher with over 20 years of experience in public health, tuberculosis (TB) control, and infectious disease surveillance across Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia. A graduate of the CDC-supported Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP), she has led and contributed to national and international projects with organizations such as KNCV, USAID, MSF, FHI 360, and the Ministry of Health.
Her research interests include TB diagnostics, screening, contact investigation, preventive treatment, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Dr. Kulzhabaeva has published extensively in international journals and is currently pursuing her PhD.

Expertise

TB Diagnostics
Public Health

Key Impacts

Utility of Nanopore sequencing for the detection of drug-resistant TB in Kyrgyzstan

tNGS has the potential to significantly enhance the speed of TB drug resistance detection. The ONT tNGS TB assay showed added value for detecting resistance to newer drugs like bedaquiline and pretomanid. These findings support the integration of tNGS into national diagnostic algorithms.

Source: Conference 2024