Dr. Iqbal Shah is a Principal Research Scientist in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. He is currently the Principal Investigator of two multi-country studies: (1) Studying the Impact and Performance of Institutionalizing Immediate Postpartum IUD Services as a Routine Part of Antenatal Counselling and Delivery Room Services in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Tanzania; and (2) Implementation and Impact Evaluation of the Willows’ Reproductive Health Programs in Ghana, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Turkey. From 1985 to 2012, Dr. Shah worked in the Department of Reproductive Health and Research (RHR) and the Special Programme in Human Reproduction (HRP) at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland.
At WHO, Dr. Shah was responsible for research and research capacity-building activities in Social Science and Operations Research in sexual and reproductive health and coordinating the team on Preventing Unsafe Abortion. In 2016, he received The Marjorie C. Horn Operations Research Award from USAID in recognition of dedicated efforts “to building the capacity of social science researchers in developing countries, generating and utilizing research for policy development, and improving the lives of women and girls through better access to reproductive health care”. He also received, in 2005, the Certificate of Appreciation from the State Family Planning Commission of China. He has published over 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals and co-edited six books.