Ernest Amankwah, Ph.D., has joined Johns Hopkins All Children’s as the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR’s) associate director for Quantitative and Population Health Sciences, co-director of its Data Coordinating Center (DCC) for Pediatric Multicenter Studies, and director of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit in the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Clinical and Translational Research Organization. He is also an associate professor of Oncology, Division of Quantitative Sciences, in the Johns Hopkins University of School of Medicine.

Amankwah, who previously served in the role of associate director for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute of Southeast Wisconsin at the Medical College of Wisconsin, will focus his efforts on strategic growth of investigator-initiated clinical research, including multicenter study design and analytic leadership and mentorship in these areas of his expertise, on the Johns Hopkins All Children’s campus in St. Petersburg, Florida. His work will also leverage partnerships with faculty on the main campus in Baltimore, including via the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the NIH-funded Johns Hopkins Medicine ICTR. He will continue his personal line of research in cancer genetic/epigenetics and national leadership in cooperative multicenter studies of pediatric thromboembolism, including as co-director of the DCC for the Rotterdam-based International Pediatric Thrombosis Network (IPTN) and the University of California San Diego-based Children’s Healthcare Advancements in Thrombosis (CHAT) Consortium.

Neil Goldenberg, M.D., Ph.D., associate dean for research on the Johns Hopkins All Children’s campus, ICTR director, Perry Family endowed professor for Clinical and Translational Research and professor of pediatrics and medicine in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, says, “We are incredibly fortunate to have recruited Dr. Amankwah back to Johns Hopkins. He is a highly-sought expert and collaborator in pediatric clinical trial design, implementation, oversight, analysis and reporting, and is among the most published Epidemiologists/Biostatisticians in his area of pediatric subspecialty focus. Most importantly, he is a cherished colleague, humbly brilliant, with indefatigable passion for teaching and mentorship.”

Goldenberg adds, “Dr. Amankwah’s trajectory includes a decade of critical contributions to Johns Hopkins All Children’s evolution into a leading pediatric academic health system, as a key member of a then-small group of research leaders focused on innovation in research education, training, and collaboration. His passion and expertise were invaluable toward developing research infrastructure and expertise on the Johns Hopkins All Children’s campus that not only met the needs of its research community, but also filled a niche for unmet needs of a pan-institutional child health research community—as exemplified by the role being served today by our DCC for Pediatric Multicenter Studies, on behalf of research networks that lack this infrastructure, expertise, and/or the federal support to sustain it. With the impact that Dr. Amankwah will have over the next 10 years, the future is very bright for Johns Hopkins All Children’s and the field of child health research.” 

Amankwah obtained his Ph.D. degree in Epidemiology from the University of Calgary and gained practical experience as an epidemiologist for Health Canada in 2006-2008, before completing a post-doctoral fellowship with Alberta Health Services. He moved to the United States in 2011 to work as a Research Scientist for Moffitt Cancer Center. In 2013, he was recruited to join Johns Hopkins All Children’s as its inaugural director of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. After a decade of shaping the research ecosystem at Johns Hopkins All Children’s and amassing an impressive legacy of mentees and impactful original research publications, Amankwah took the opportunity to serve as associate director of the NIH-funded Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin at the Medical College of Wisconsin, spanning both pediatric and adult health science research. Remarking on his decision to return to the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Research to serve as its inaugural associate director for Quantitative and Population Health Sciences (a campus-wide leadership role), Amankwah emphasizes, “The warm and enthusiastic welcome have been truly heartening. I am thrilled to reconnect with wonderful colleagues and meet new members of the Hopkins family. My 10 years’ experience here was rewarding, and I am excited to build on that foundation and contribute to the continued success of the research mission and vision of Johns Hopkins. It is an awesome feeling to be back.”