Center for
Global Health

Scholar

Languages: English (Fluent), German (Fluent)

BIO STATEMENT

Hans-Peter Kohler is the FJ Warren Professor of Demography and Co-Director of the Population Aging and Research Center (PARC) at the University of Pennsylvania. He received is MA in Demography in 1994 and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. He has widely published on topics related to global aging, health, fertility, social/sexual networks, HIV/AIDS and biodemography. His research has received extensive funding through the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and other institutions.

RECENT GLOBAL HEALTH PROJECTS

1.The Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health (MLSFH) provides a rare record of 25 years of longitudinal population data in one of the poorest countries in the world, and it is one of very few long-standing publicly-available longitudinal cohort studies in a sub-Saharan African (SSA) context. I have been part of the MLSFH since its inception, have directed it since 2006, and have shaped its evolution from a narrowly-focused reproductive health study to a major social science project studying topics ranging from child & adolescent development to aging, ADRD and epigenetic determinants of health. MLSFH research is currently funded by three NIH R01 grants focusing on different aspects of the lifecourse: Adversity, Aging and ADRD Risk among the Global Poor: A Biosocial Approach (NIA R01 AG079527), Surviving an Epidemic: Families and Well-being (NICHD R01 HD087391) and Adversities, Health and Resilience in Early Adulthood: An Intergenerational, Low-income Country Study (NICHD R01 HD114246). MLSFH data are made publicly available, providing a major resource for studying health across the lifecourse, and more recently aging and ADRD, in an African low-income population. Learn more about the MLSFH at https://www.MLSFHresearch.org.

2.Rapid changes that characterize modern family life and work are two critical domains that likely impact ADRD risk. However, these effects remain relatively understudied due to the scarcity of data suited to such investigation. Using Norwegian survey data linked to population registers and support via NIA R01 AG069109, this project on Changing Lives, Changing Brains: How Modern Family and Work Life Influences ADRD Risks studies the joint effect of family and work dynamics on risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), focusing in particular on pathways and how changing family patterns and work lives contribute to age related changes in cognition and ADRD. The overall hypothesis is that contemporary changes in family patterns and work lives contribute to age related changes in cognition and ADRD, and that a shift to “modern” family structures is an important factor shaping the coming changes in ADRD across high-income countries.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

H. Purcell, I.V. Kohler, A. Ciancio, J. Mwera, A. Delavande, V. Mwapasa,& H. Kohler, Mortality risk information and health-seeking behavior during an epidemic, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 121 (28) e2315677121, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2315677121 (2024).

Alberto Ciancio, Adeline Delavande, Hans-Peter Kohler, Iliana V Kohler, Mortality Risk Information, Survival Expectations and Sexual Behaviours, The Economic Journal, Volume 134, Issue 660, May 2024, Pages 1431–1464, https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/uead116

Kohler IV, Kämpfen F, Bandawe C, Kohler H-P, Zuelsdorff M. Cognition and Cognitive Changes in a Low-Income Sub-Saharan African Aging Population. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. 2023;95(1):195-212. doi:10.3233/JAD-230271

Bawah, A. A., Houle, B., Alam, N., Razzaque, A., Streatfield, P. K., Debpuur, C., ... & Kanté, A. M. (2016). The evolving demographic and health transition in four low- and middle-income countries: Evidence from four sites in the INDEPTH Network. PLOS ONE, 11(6), e0157281. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157281

Last Updated: 23 July 2025