Email  bimandra.djaafara@nus.edu.sg

I am an infectious disease epidemiologist and modeller with a strong interest in applying and developing statistical and mathematical models to understand the dynamics of infectious diseases through various data sources. My research focuses on developing and applying models (statistical and mathematical) to help inform public health policies and interventions aimed at controlling and preventing the spread of infectious diseases. I have no particular disease of interest, but I have been involved in multiple projects related to malaria, COVID-19, and diphtheria.

My current research focuses on dengue transmission dynamics and burden in Indonesia. I aim to use machine learning algorithms to understand the drivers of transmission and spread of dengue in the country and then incorporate these findings into a dynamical model to formulate suitable subnational intervention packages for dengue control in Indonesia.

• NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health

• Infectious disease modelling
• Infectious disease epidemiology
• Malaria
• Outbreak analysis

• BSc in Statistics, Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia (2012)
• MSc in Epidemiology (infectious disease modelling stream), Imperial College London, UK (2016)
• MRes in Biomedical Research (epidemiology, evolution, and control of infectious disease stream), Imperial College London, UK (2019)
• PhD in Epidemiology, Evolution, and Control of Infectious Disease, Imperial College London, UK (2023)

• Wellcome Data Science Ideathon Bronze Prize (with Team InfecTech), Wellcome Trust (2023)

• Research Associate, MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Imperial College London, UK (2023-2024)
• Statistician, Eijkman-Oxford Clinical Research Unit, Indonesia (2014-2018)

• Johnson, R, Djaafara, BA, Haw, D, Doohan, P, Forchini, G, Pianella, M, Ferguson, N, Smith, PC and Hauck, KD. (2023). The societal value of SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccination in Indonesia. Vaccine, 41(11), pp.1885-1891. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.01.068
• Fadilah, I, Djaafara, BA, Lestari, KD, Fajariyani, SB, … & Elyazar, IR. (2022). Quantifying spatial heterogeneity of malaria in the endemic Papua region of Indonesia: analysis of epidemiological surveillance data. Lancet Reg Health Southeast Asia, p.100051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lansea.2022.100051
• Whittaker, C, Walker, PGT, Alhaffar, M, Hamlet, A, Djaafara, BA, Ghani, A, … & Watson, OJ. (2021). Under-reporting of deaths limits our understanding of true burden of covid-19. BMJ, 375. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2239
• Djaafara, BA, Whittaker, C, Watson, OJ, Verity, R, Brazeau, NF, Oktavia, D, … & Walker, PGT. (2021). Using syndromic measures of mortality to capture the dynamics of COVID-19 in Java, Indonesia, in the context of vaccination rollout. BMC Med, 19(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-021-02016-2
• Djaafara, BA, Imai, N, Hamblion, E, Impouma, B, Donnelly, CA, & Cori, A. (2021). A quantitative framework for defining the end of an infectious disease outbreak: application to Ebola virus disease. Am J Epidemiol, 190(4), 642-651. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwaa212
• Surendra, H, Elyazar, IRF, Djaafara, BA, Ekawati, LL, Saraswati, K, Adrian, V, … & Hamers, RL. (2021). Clinical characteristics and mortality associated with COVID-19 in Jakarta, Indonesia: a hospital-based retrospective cohort study. Lancet Reg Health West Pac, 9, 100108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanwpc.2021.100108