Iqbal Elyazar leads SHIELD PAPUA with a focus on turning data into practical action for infectious disease control. Trained in geospatial epidemiology and infectious diseases, his work brings together surveillance, mapping, modelling, and decision science to help health systems understand risk earlier and respond more effectively.

He leads the design and integration of all SHIELD PAPUA work packages as a unified precision public health system. He designs tools and workflows that fit within everyday government practice, ensuring that analytics are not confined to research but used routinely by health managers and frontline teams. His approach connects methodological innovation with real-world implementation, so that advances in modelling and digital health directly improve how programmes plan, prioritise, and act.

Through SHIELD PAPUA, he works closely with an interdisciplinary network of scientists, practitioners, and policymakers to build locally owned, sustainable solutions that strengthen health systems across Papua.