PhD

Bained Nyirongo

Bained is a PhD Fellow at the University of Zambia, Department of Educational Psychology, Sociology and Special Education in the School of Education. He is supervised by Professor Beatrice Matafwali and Dr Magdalene Simalalo. His Project focuses on Early intervention in Autism by establishing inhibitory control skills in school aged children in Zambia. With this project, he hopes to establish and improve inhibitory control abilities in autistic children through culturally cognitive remediation therapies in a Zambian setting.

Beatrice Oloo

Beatrice is a PhD Fellow at the University of Zambia, within the Department of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine. Under the guidance of Dr. Paul Ravi and Professor Beatrice Matafwali, her research project centers on adopting early intervention strategies for dyslexia. This comparative study examines the current management of dyslexia in urban and rural schools across Zambia.

Her goal is to implement early interventions that alleviate the difficulties children with dyslexia face in reading, writing, and speaking. By addressing these challenges early on, she aims to empower these children to reach their full potential and transform their educational experiences.

Berrick Otieno

Berrick is currently enrolled in a Doctoral Program in Biomedical Sciences at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, under the supervision of Dr Jürgen Krücken and Prof Amina Abubakar. His research focuses on understanding the impact, epidemiology and mitigation strategies for tungiasis—a neglected tropical disease caused by the sand flea Tunga penetrans — with a special emphasis on its neurocognitive and mental health effects in children and risk factors in older adults. Through this project, he aims to generate evidence that will inform context-specific interventions and policy responses to reduce the burden of tungiasis in affected communities.

Cesc Bertran Cobo

Cesc is a PhD student at the Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town. Their research, nested within the Drakenstein Child Health Study (DCHS), examines how perinatal HIV exposure impacts development of the immune and nervous systems in a South African birth cohort. Using longitudinal MR Spectroscopy and peripheral blood serological data, Cesc is also exploring how neuroimmune alterations due to maternal HIV status may associate with child neurodevelopmental outcomes at school entry.

Cleo Albertus

Cleo is currently a PhD fellow at the University of Cape Town, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health and Neuroscience Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, under the supervision of Dr. Nynke Groenewold, Associate Professor Goodman, and Professor Dan Stein. Her project focuses on the cognitive determinants of problematic substance use in South African adolescents with and without comorbid emotional disorders. Substance use disorders are highly prevalent and significantly contribute to the burden of disease in South Africa and on the African continent. The aim of her PhD project is to investigate the cognitive determinants associated with problematic substance use among South African adolescents in the Cape Town metro area. With this project, she hopes to gain a better understanding of adolescent substance use and its impact on neurocognitive development and academic achievements.

Daisy Chelangat

Daisy is a PhD fellow at the Hasselt University, Belgium. At the Aga Khan University Institute of Human Development, she  supports the UtiliZe health Information for Meaningful impact in East Africa through Data Science (UZIMA-DS) Program. She is being supervised by Professor Amina Abubakar and Professor Charles Newton. She has over five years of experience in research, with a strong background in statistics. She’s focused on giving data a voice by turning it into actionable insights using robust statistical analysis methods and disseminating results in a language that can be understood by a seven-year-old. She is interested in the validation of assessments used in autism screening and diagnosis, risk factors and the genetic and phenotypic architecture neurodevelopmental disabilities.

Easter Olwanda

Ms. Easter is a PhD student at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands, under the supervision of Professor Amina Abubakar and Professor Marit Sijbrandij. Easter’s PhD project focusses on the Integration of Adolescent Mental Health Literacy Programs/Interventions into School Services for Adolescents in Kenya. The project aims to create a framework for the integration of adolescent mental health literacy programs in school services in Kenya. This initiative seeks to enhance overall mental health awareness, reduce stigma related to mental health, and foster a more supportive environment within schools and communities for adolescents encountering mental health challenges. Furthermore, the project seeks to carry out a cost-benefit analysis to determine the total costs of integrating adolescent mental health literacy/interventions in school services, as well as assess economic impacts such as healthy life years gained, mortality rates averted, and productivity enhancements through this intervention.

Emmie Mbale

Emmie Mbale is a paediatrician and Senior lecturer at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Malawi. She recently enrolled in a PhD program in the department of Paediatrics and Child Health under the supervision of Prof MacPherson Mallewa and Prof Melissa Gladstone. 

In her PhD she aims to understand the trajectory of child development in the first 24 months of life and the factors that influence it. She will be tracking child development using neuroimaging, developmental assessment tools and will explore the impact of nutrition and maternal stressors in a cohort of children.

She hopes that this research can inform the development and timing of future interventions to optimize child development.

Ezra Too

Ezra is a PhD student at the Utrecht University, Netherlands, under the supervision of Professor Amina Abubakar. His project focuses on adolescent executive function and mental health in the context of HIV. With this project, he aims to explore the impact of perinatal HIV (both infection and exposure without infection) on executive functioning among Kenyan adolescents, and its association with mental health.

Heesoo Diara

Ms. Heesoo is currently pursuing a PhD in Paediatric Neuroscience under the supervision of Professor Kirsty Donald at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa. She has a Maters in Clinical Neuropsychology. Her PhD project is nested within the Khula Study and aims to investigate early life development of executive functions (EF). With this project she aims to not only understand the emergence of brain networks underlying executive function development in early life, but also to understand the influence and impact of socio-environmental influences on early Executive Functions development.

Joan Mutahi

Joan is a PhD student at the Utrecht University, Netherlands, under the supervision of Professor Amina Abubakar. Her project aims to understand the neurocognitive and behavioural outcomes of adolescents living with Sickle Cell Disease in Kenya, to inform the adaptation of a brief psychological intervention for them and their caregivers. With this research, she hopes to apply previously contextually validated neurocognitive and behavioural measures in assessment. The work will also evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a chosen psychological intervention.

Maclean Vokhiwa

Maclean is an ALMA PhD Fellow at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), Malawi. His developmental neuroscience work focuses on equitable measurement of brain development and neurocognitive outcomes using accessible low-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), with a particular interest in bridging neuroscience research with real-world clinical and public health applications across low-resource sub-Saharan Africa. He contributes to multidisciplinary child neurodevelopment research spanning iron-deficiency anemia, infectious diseases, and early-life risk exposures, while leading neuroimaging activities using mobile ultra-low-field MRI at the Training and Research Unit of Excellence (TRUE) in Zomba, Malawi, within the global UNITY initiative. He is a Global Scholar at the Oxford Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (OxCIN). His work has contributed to high-impact publications and international recognition, including the ISMRM Magna Cum Laude Merit Award and DELTAS-Africa Research Excellence Award.

His research demonstrates that the near-absence of neuroimaging constrains epidemiological inferences in sub-Saharan Africa, while also establishing the feasibility of structural infant brain imaging, clinical neurodiagnostics, and linking prenatal and postnatal brain development using low-field MRI in low-resource settings. Through active South–South and global collaborations, he works to integrate accessible neuroimaging into emerging neuroscience programmes. His work supports the development of equitable, scalable neuroimaging ecosystems across Africa by advancing context-appropriate imaging protocols, training, and analysis frameworks suited to constrained infrastructure environments.

Marilyn Lake

Marilyn is a PhD fellow based at University of Cape Town, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health. Her PhD is nested within the Drakenstein Child Health Study (DCHS). Under the supervision of Professor Dan Stein and Ass. Professor Anke Huels, Marilyn will explore how exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) during critical and sensitive developmental periods may impact child behaviour and mental health. She aims to leverage longitudinal data across childhood to map ETS patterns linked to child psychopathology, in addition to integrating both psychosocial and epigenetic data to investigate potential mechanistic pathways.

Thelma Banda

Thelma is a PhD student at the University of Zambia in the school of Education, Department of Educational Psychology, Sociology and Special Education, under the supervision of Professor Beatrice Matafwali and Dr Magdalene Simalalo. 

Her project focuses on exploring support of the Home Literacy Environment for children with dyslexia in Primary Schools in Zambia. With this project she hopes to describe the Home Literacy Environment in the Zambian context and how it can support children with dyslexia to acquire and improve literacy skills.

Zethembiso Ngcobo

Ngcobo is a PhD student in the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health and Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Her research project is being supervised by Associate Professor Pieter Naudé, and Professor Kirsty Donald. Her project will be investigating the impact of environmental exposures on early-life neuroinflammation and neurodevelopment in African children. With her project, she aims to investigate how environmental exposures can influence neuroinflammation and in turn, shape neurodevelopmental outcomes in African communities. The findings from this study hold potential to identify mechanisms that can help identify children who are most susceptible to poor neurodevelopmental outcomes in African communities.

Beatrice Mkubwa

PhD fellow at the Institute for Human Development, Aga Khan University
PhD Focus – Mental health of children and adolescents
Funded by the SPARK programme affiliated to the ALMA programme

Ms. Mkubwa is pursuing a doctorate at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands). Her project focuses on improving the mental health of children and adolescents in Kenya. She is using a program called the Mental Health Gap Action Programme Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG), developed by the World Health Organization. Specifically, she is working on adapting and testing a module called ‘Child and Adolescent Mental and Behavioural Disorders (CMHs)’ to fit Kenya’s needs.

The project involves three main steps:

1. Adapting the CMHs module: Customising the module to suit Kenya’s unique situation, ensuring that it provides the best possible mental health services for children and teenagers.
2. Training healthcare providers: The pilot testing phase will incorporate training and equipping healthcare providers with the necessary skills to assess, diagnose, and treat mental health problems in young people. This training will help them identify and address mental health issues early on.
3. Advocating for change: The evidence gathered can be used to persuade policymakers to improve child and adolescent mental health services in Kenya, leading to better resources and support.

Esther Chongwo

PhD fellow at the Institute for Human Development, Aga Khan University
Funded by the Hilton Foundation affiliated to the ALMA programme
PhD Focus: Early Child Development

Ms. Chongwo is pursuing her doctorate studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands), where she seeks to understand the risks and resilience in children from arid and semi-arid regions of Kenya. She plans to investigate psychosocial and climatic factors that impact on pregnancy, neonatal and child outcomes in children aged 0-3 years in ASAL regions in Kenya. The study will generate new knowledge that will inform policies as well as context relevant and culturally appropriate interventions for children in Kenya’s ASAL regions to support their well-being and development.

Faith Neema

PhD fellow at the Institute for Human Development, Aga Khan University
Funded by the UZIMA programme affiliated to the ALMA programme
PhD Focus – Applied Machine Learning

Ms. Neema is pursuing her doctorate studies at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Her project deals with Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

PhD in Applied Mathematics (Applied Machine Learning) ) is a comprehensive program that merges advanced mathematical techniques with practical applications in machine learning. It equips students with the skills to develop innovative algorithms, models, and solutions that harness the power of machine learning for solving complex real-world challenges.

Her pursuit of this PhD program will significantly contribute to the promotion of Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health in Kenya. By leveraging the expertise gained in applied machine learning, she will be better equipped to develop predictive models, identify trends, and uncover correlations within healthcare data. This, in turn, will enable more accurate and timely interventions, improving healthcare outcomes for mothers and children across the country and ultimately advancing the overall health landscape in Kenya.

Willah Nabukwangwa

Willah Nabukwangwa is currently pursuing a PhD in Public Health from the University of Nairobi, under the supervision of Professor Amina Abubakar.

She is a public health researcher and biostatistician with 8+ years of experience generating evidence at the intersection of climate, health, and development across East Africa. She currently serves as a Research Scientist and Data Analyst at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), where she leads school-based research under the Clean Air Africa Project, advancing the transition from biomass to clean cooking and assessing impacts on air quality, health, and learning outcomes.

Her work combines exposure assessment, mixed-methods research, and quasi-experimental evaluation to inform climate-health and clean energy policy. She is pursuing a PhD in Public Health at the University of Nairobi, focusing on the neurocognitive and mental health effects of cooking-related air pollution among learners.

Willah holds a Master’s in Epidemiology from Amref International University (2023) and a Bachelor’s in Biostatistics from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (2015). She has contributed to research and implementation, particularly in maternal and child health, urban health, environmental health studies,  and nutrition.

Her PhD project focuses on Assessing the Effect of Cooking-related Air Pollution on Mental Health and Cognitive Performance among Secondary School Learners in Kenya.

Sabina Odero

Sabina is a PhD Fellow at the Aga Khan University’s Institute for Human Development and is pursuing her PhD at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands). Her PhD focuses on the mental well-being and resilience of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in Kenya, who are key workforce actors in promoting child health and development. However, evidence indicates that they experience significant psychological distress in the course of their work, with minimal development and evaluation of interventions tailored to their needs. Sabina’s PhD seeks to quantify the burden of mental health problems among the CHWs and expound on their experiences, accessing psychosocial support and building resilience. Since CHWs connect scientific knowledge with families and communities, investing in their wellbeing is an important pathway to improving child and adolescent brain health across Africa

Sabina has background training in Environmental Science from Kenyatta University, a postgraduate diploma in Health Research Methods from Pwani University and a master’s degree in Global Health and Development from University College London (UCL). Her research interests and expertise are in qualitative research, implementation science, health systems research with a focus on human resources for health, and mental health.

Tusekile Sarah Kangwa

Tusekile Sarah Kangwa is a PhD candidate in Neuroscience (Psychiatry) under the supervision of A/Professor Pieter Naudé, Professor Kirsty Donald and Dr Catherine Wedderburn in the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health and the Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cape Town. Her research focuses on perinatal HIV exposure, neuroimmune regulation, and early neurodevelopment among children who are HIV-exposed but uninfected (HEU). Using longitudinal data from the Drakenstein Child Health Study, she investigates how maternal and child peripheral neuroimmune profiles are associated with neurodevelopmental and behavioural outcomes across early childhood. Through this research, she aims to identify immune markers associated with early developmental vulnerability and possible pathways predictive of susceptibility to infection and suboptimal health outcomes in HEU children, thereby potentially contributing to strategies for the early intervention of children at risk of poor developmental outcomes.

Dr Takondwa Chimowa

Dr Takondwa Chimowa is a Consultant Neurodevelopmental Paediatrician with an MMED, FC Paed, Cert Dev Paed, and an MPhil in Developmental Paediatrics from the University of Cape Town. His MPhil research explored the clinical and contextual factors influencing epilepsy in children with cerebral palsy in South Africa.

He is passionate about advancing child health and the care of children with neurodevelopmental conditions through clinical practice, multidisciplinary collaboration, and research, particularly in resource-limited settings. His research interests include early childhood development, environmental influences on brain development, epilepsy in children with cerebral palsy, and autism spectrum disorder. He is especially interested in early detection and intervention strategies, as well as low-cost, community-based approaches to improving developmental outcomes in low- and middle-income settings.