Profile photo Roel Vermeulen

Roel Vermeulen

Full Professor

Strategic program(s):

Biography

Roel Vermeulen is Professor of Environmental Epidemiology and Exposome Science at Utrecht University and the director of the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS) at Utrecht University and the UMC Utrecht. He holds a professor position at the Julius Center, Department Public Health Healthcare Innovation and Medical Humanities (UMC Utrecht) and a Visiting Professorship at Imperial College London, UK.

 

Research focus: environmental risk assessment

His scientific research focuses on environmental risk factors for non-communicable diseases with a strong emphasis on integrating epidemiology, high quality exposure assessment, and molecular biology into multidisciplinary investigations.

Exposome

One of his main research areas is the exploration of new methods for quantifying the external and internal exposome. The exposome concept refers to all environmental factors that we humans are exposed to on a daily basis: what we eat, the air we breathe, our social interactions and lifestyle choices such as smoking and exercising. Interacting with the genome, the exposome defines individual health at different stages throughout the life course, including foetal life. Researchers in the field of the exposome are trying to capture everything to understand which, how, in what quantities, and in what circumstances environmental drivers have an effect on our health. 

Research groups

Julius Center Research Program Cancer

Research aim

Our mission is to drive impactful innovation for cancer prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and care through interdisciplinary research, fostering collaboration among researchers across disciplines within the Julius Center and beyond.

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Recent publications

A Europe-wide characterization of the external exposome Kees de Hoogh, Gerard Hoek, Benjamin Flückiger, Alonso Bussalleu, Danielle Vienneau, Ayoung Jeong, Nicole Probst-Hensch, Maria Gabriela M de Pinho, Joreintje D Mackenbach, Jeroen Lakerveld, Joline Wj Beulens, Raphaele Castagné, Cyrille Delpierre, Michelle Kelly-Irving, Youchen Shen, Anke Huss, Payam Dadvand, Marta Cirach Pradas, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Jelle Vlaanderen, Roel Vermeulen
Environment International, 2025, vol. 200
Comparison of Long-Term Air Pollution Exposure from Mobile and Routine Monitoring, Low-Cost Sensors, and Dispersion Models G Hoek, F Bouma, N Janssen, J Wesseling, S van Ratingen, J Kerckhoffs, U Gehring, W Hendricx, R Vermeulen, K de Hoogh
Research Report (Health Effects Institute), 2025, vol. 226
Variability in mobility-based air pollution exposure assessment Lai Wei, Marco Helbich, Benjamin Flückiger, Youchen Shen, Jelle Vlaanderen, Ayoung Jeong, Nicole Probst-Hensch, Kees de Hoogh, Gerard Hoek, Roel Vermeulen
Environment International, 2025, vol. 198
Air pollution exposure and incidence of cardiometabolic diseases Shradha Mishra, Ilonca Vaartjes, Yvonne T van der Schouw, Esmée M Bijnens, Jolanda M A Boer, George S Downward, Roel C H Vermeulen, W Monique M Verschuren, Tim S Nawrot, Erik J Timmermans
Health & place, 2025, vol. 93
Comparison of air pollution exposure assessment methods and the association with children's respiratory health Femke Bouma, Gerard Hoek, Gerard H Koppelman, Judith M Vonk, Nicole Ah Janssen, Sjoerd van Ratingen, Wouter Hendricx, Joost Wesseling, Jules Kerckhoffs, Roel Vermeulen, Kees de Hoogh, Ulrike Gehring
Environment International, 2025, vol. 198
Hybrid cellular automata-based air pollution model for traffic scenario microsimulations Tabea S. Sonnenschein, Zhendong Yuan, Jibran Khan, Jules Kerckhoffs, Roel C.H. Vermeulen, Simon Scheider
Environmental Modelling and Software, 2025, vol. 186