The Learning Variability Network Exchange (LEVANTE) brings together researchers from around the world aiming to capture the richness and diversity of child development and learning.
Only by conducting open-access, cutting-edge research can we enhance our knowledge on learning and developmental variability.
Delve into the science of learning variability, explore cutting-edge research, and discover practical insights to enhance learning for all.
Home » Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana
The LEVANTE site at the Kintampo Health Research Centre, co-led by Principal Investigator Kwaku Poku Asante together with, Kenneth Ayuurebobi Ae-Ngibise, Amy E. Margolis, and Christopher Yaw Kwaah, sinvestigates how early-life environmental exposures shape children’s cognitive and emotional development in rural Ghana. The research draws on the GRAPHS cohort, following around 700 children over time to examine how household air pollution affects how children learn and develop.
Using longitudinal data, brain imaging, and environmental exposure measures, the project studies whether air pollution from cooking fuels influences developmental trajectories and how brain changes may help explain these effects by building on existing cohort health data.
This work brings environmental and developmental data together to better understand when and how early conditions shape children’s learning over time.
Principal Investigator
Kwaku Poku Asante is a public health physician and Director of the Kintampo Health Research Centre, with over 20 years of experience in public health research in Ghana and internationally. His work spans infectious diseases, child health, environmental health, and health systems strengthening. He played a leading role in the Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study, which catalyzed further research on environmental health exposures. As a principal investigator for Columbia World Projects, he contributes to efforts addressing household air pollution through clean energy solutions. He has published over 100 scholarly articles and actively mentors emerging researchers in public health.
Co-Principal Investigator
Kenneth Ayuurebobi Ae-Ngibise is a global mental health researcher with over 17 years of experience leading multi-country epidemiological studies in Ghana, bridging mental health, environmental exposures, and neurodevelopment. As Principal Investigator of a Wellcome Trust climate and mental health award, he investigates mechanistic pathways linking heat exposure to perinatal depression. His Gates Foundation-funded work examines how maternal anaemia affects infant neurodevelopment. This expertise positions him to advance LEVANTE’s objectives in establishing cognitive and socio-emotional developmental trajectories and integrating neuroscientific methods into community-based research. His leadership strengthens the site’s capacity to generate contextually relevant, policy-shaping evidence.
Amy E. Margolis is a clinician and researcher dedicated to advancing knowledge at the intersection of developmental cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, environmental neuroepidemiology, and learning disability research. Her work focuses on how environmental factors, including chemicals and psychosocial stressors, influence child development. She uses neuroimaging tools to study the impact of prenatal environmental chemical exposures on children’s neurodevelopment. She also examines how postnatal exposure to positive factors and psychosocial stressors may buffer or magnify these effects on cognitive development. Her work ultimately aims to uncover mechanisms that inform interventions for cognitive and learning disorders.
Christopher Yaw Kwaah is a researcher in education with expertise in curriculum and teaching, teacher education, and access and equity in education. He serves as a Research Fellow and Coordinator of the Educational Research Unit at the Institute of Education, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. His work focuses on improving teaching practices, classroom interactions, and learning outcomes, with particular attention to the role of ICT in higher education. He has contributed to several local and international research projects, including studies on critical thinking in African higher education, classroom interaction quality, and early childhood development in Ghana.