Aizat Kulzhabaeva is an epidemiologist from Kyrgyzstan with a medical background and extensive experience in public health research, epidemiology, and health systems strengthening. She obtained her medical degree (MD) and a postgraduate degree in epidemiology.

She is conducting her PhD research under the supervision of Dr. Kristin Kremer and Prof. Constanze Schultsz and is embedded within the work of the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation.

Her PhD project focuses on the clinical utility of next-generation sequencing and other diagnostic technologies for the diagnosis of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Kyrgyzstan. The research evaluates how successive diagnostic innovations and diagnostic strategies – compared with standard-of-care drug susceptibility testing – have influenced drug-resistant tuberculosis detection, treatment decision-making, patient-important outcomes, and health system performance in a high-burden setting.

Through her PhD, Aizat seeks to understand better how diagnostic innovations translate into real-world benefits for patients and health systems, particularly in high-burden, low-income settings such as Kyrgyzstan. Her work aims to bridge the gap between laboratory innovation, clinical decision-making, and programmatic tuberculosis care.