Kaja Abbas

Dr. Kaja Abbas is an Associate Professor in Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Dynamics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), with a joint position at Nagasaki University. He leads research at the intersection of vaccine impact modeling, health economics, and epidemiology, focusing on evidence-based vaccination strategies for global health equity. His work spans low-, middle-, and high-income countries, supported by affiliations with LSHTM’s Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, Vaccine Centre, and Centre for Epidemic Preparedness and Response.

His research examines the health, economic, and equity impacts of vaccination programs through mathematical modeling. Key interests include:

• Estimating vaccine value for diseases like typhoid, HPV, and COVID-19
• Analyzing immunization disruptions during pandemics
• Assessing cost-effectiveness of novel vaccine delivery strategies
• Identifying barriers to vaccine access in marginalized populations

Publications demonstrate consistent focus on translating modeling insights into policy, with recurring themes of outbreak preparedness, antimicrobial resistance, and equity-focused vaccine deployment. Recent work emphasizes economic burden analyses and stakeholder-driven approaches for vaccine introduction in endemic regions.

Grant funding includes 16 active and completed projects from major health organizations:

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (nutrition-vaccination integration in Chad/Niger)
• WHO (vaccine value against antimicrobial resistance)
• GAVI (measles-rubella impact assessment)
• International Vaccine Institute (typhoid/chikungunya vaccine feasibility)

He currently serves on the UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), influencing national immunization policy.