New Population Center Working Paper (PSC/PARC): Kohler, Iliana, Fabrice Kämpfen, Alberto Ciancio, James Mwera, Victor Mwapasa, and Hans-Peter Kohler. 2021. "Curtailing COVID-19 on a Dollar-a-Day in Malawi: Implications for the Ongoing Pandemic." University of Pennsylvania Population Center Working Paper (PSC/PARC), 2021-66.
A new LDI/PARC Research Brief on a recent study by Alberto Ciancio, Fabrice Kämpfen, Hans-Peter Kohler, and Iliana Kohler looking at the health effects of blood pressure screenings for adults in rural Malawi. The PARC team found that adults with elevated blood pressure who were referred to a health care provider were 22 percentage points less likely to have hypertension four years later. They also reported better subjective mental health and were more likely to be taking blood pressure medication. The study has a number of important implications for health screenings and population health management in rural and low-income countries.
Iliana Kohler (PSC/PARC Research Associate) received the National Academy of Medicine Catalyst Grant Award. The project, entitled "Leveraging Social Networks and Linkage to Care to Foster Healthy Aging in a Low-Income Context," aims at understanding how social networks could be used to more effectively disseminate elder health information about non-communicable diseases throughout a country lacking the mass communications infrastructure of industrialized nations. Read more in the
Penn LDI announcement.
Associate Director, Population Studies Center
Research Assistant Professor of Population Studies
Ph.D., Political Science, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, 2001
I am a health researcher and social demographer whose research builds on both social and biomedical sciences, and whose primary research agenda focuses on adult health outcomes, chronic diseases, intergenerational relationships and transfers, and morbidity and mortality in international contexts. I have collaborated extensively in multidisciplinary and international research teams, and I have demonstrated leadership in coalescing research teams around new research ideas and innovative projects in population health. Most recently, I have spearheaded the extension of the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health (MLSFH), one of the signature projects of the Population Studies Center, towards research on chronic diseases and mortality in an African poor high HIV-prevalence context, with a specific focus on the social and biological determinants of mental health and cognitive abilities. I have been instrumental in the development of comparable survey instruments that will allow the creation of a comparative health research agenda between MLSFH, HRS, SHARE, focused on chronic diseases and mortality between low-income and high-income countries. I have recently served as the lead international consultant for the United Nations DESA project on “Data collection methodology and tools for supporting the formulation of evidence-based policies in response to the challenge of population ageing in sub-Saharan Africa.” I have extensive experience working with and analyzing large observational datasets with a focus on survival outcomes. I have demonstrated strong communication skills in several academic publications, successful research grant applications (including NIH grants), and research reports to NIH and other organizations.
My research interests parallel the NIA research programs and initiatives including Cognition and Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia (ADRD), Global Aging and Health (HIV), Health Disparities in Aging and its life-course determinants. As a past PSC/PARC Postdoc, I was mentored by multiple Research Associates including Jere Behrman, Irma Elo, Samuel Preston, Beth Soldo and Susan Watkins. In my new faculty position, Herbert Smith serves as my official mentor. My post-doctoral experience and pilot funding (PARC Pilot: Do Parents in Developing Countries benefit from Their Children’s Education at Old Age?) prepared me to initiate/manage/administer a new research agenda that has led to large multidisciplinary international projects, submission of early career research grants and participation in funded research as key personnel. I will be very involved with the strengthening our international partnerships with the Medical College of Malawi.