Carla van Gils

Full Professor

Strategic program(s):

Biography

Carla van Gils obtained her degree in Biomedical Health Sciences (1994) and her PhD degree in Epidemiology at Nijmegen University (1998). In 1998 she received a fellowship from the Dutch Cancer Society in with which she worked as a visiting scientist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA in 1999 and 2000. From 2001 she works at the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care. From 2014 - June 2021 Carla van Gils was the coordinator of the Cancer Research program of the Julius Center, management team member of the Epidemiology department and board member of the UMC Utrecht Cancer Research program. In October 2017 she was appointed Professor in Clinical Epidemiology of Cancer. Since June 2021 she combines her professorship with a position as director of the Dutch Cancer Society

Strategic program(s):

Contact

cgils@umcutrecht.nl

Pure profile

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

All publications

Assessing the role of ultra-processed foods in colorectal cancer incidence Jeroen Berden, Oliver Langselius, Esther M. González-Gil, Jessica Blanco Lopez, Geneviève Nicolas, Bernard Srour, Christopher Millett, Eszter P. Vamos, Harriet Rumgay, Kiara Chang, Mathilde Touvier, Alicia K. Heath, Cecilie Kyrø, Chloé Marques, Franziska Jannasch, Matthias B. Schulze, Matteo Franco, Ana M.Jimenez Zabala, Anne Tjønneland, Carla H. van Gils, Charlotte Le Cornet, Claire Cadeau, Marcela Guevara, Maria José Sanchez, Mariem Hajji-Louati, Marta Crous-Bou, Rosario Tumino, Valeria Pala, Verena Katzke, Guri Skeie, Paolo Vineis, Pietro Ferrari, Vivian Viallon, Inge Huybrechts
BMC Public Health, 2026, vol. 26

Agreement and Reliability of Cone-Beam Computed Tomography Scans to Assess Skeletal Muscle Mass During Radiotherapy in Patients with Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Anouk W.M.A. Schaeffers, Eline R. du Pon, Ernst J. Smid, Jan Willem Dankbaar, Lot A. Devriese, Carla H. van Gils, Remco de Bree, Caroline M. Speksnijder
Applied Sciences (Switzerland), 2026, vol. 16

Assessing the Impact of Visualizations of Quantitative and Qualitative Risk Information on the Comprehension of Hypothetical Risk-Based Breast Cancer Screening Results Inge S van Strien-Knippenberg, Danielle R M Timmermans, Maaike Weber, Yasmina Okan, Carla H van Gils, Mireille J M Broeders, Olga C Damman
Health Communication, 2025, vol. 41, p.1668-1683

Breast density changes after risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy in women with a pathogenic germline variant in BRCA1 or BRCA2 Elizabeth A Loehrer, Frederieke H van der Baan, Thea M Mooij, Nadine Andrieu, Antonis C Antoniou, Monique D Dorrius, Douglas F Easton, Christoph Engel, Karin Kast, Ritse M Mann, Catherine Noguès, Rita K Schmutzler, Yen Y Tan, Mikael Eriksson, Carla H van Gils, Maartje J Hooning, Matti A Rookus, Marjanka K Schmidt
Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, 2025, vol. 34, p.1295-1305

Multireader Diagnostic Accuracy of Abbreviated Breast MRI for Screening Women with Extremely Dense Breasts Sophie E L van Grinsven, Ritse M Mann, Evelyn M Monninkhof, Katya Duvivier, Mathijn D F de Jong, Petra K de Koekkoek-Doll, Claudette E Loo, Ruud M Pijnappel, Rogier van der Sluijs, Jeroen Veltman, Carla H van Gils, Wouter B Veldhuis,
Radiology, 2025, vol. 315

Change of skeletal muscle mass and associated factors during radiotherapy and chemoradiotherapy in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma Anouk W.M.A. Schaeffers, Hannah A. Scholten, Annemieke Kok, Floris C.J. Reinders, Rebecca K. Stellato, Ernst J. Smid, Maartje A. van Beers, Carla H. van Gils, Caroline M. Speksnijder, Marielle P. Philippens, Lot A. Devriese, Remco de Bree
Oral Oncology Reports, 2025, vol. 14

Fellowships & Awards

2009: Personal grant Dutch Cancer Society project ‘Early detection and prevention of breast cancer in women with dense breasts’
2009: Senior teacher of the year, Epidemiology department, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht
2007: Elisabeth Steyn Parvé personal development award (University Medical Center Utrecht). Two-year program to train and coach researchers in reaching academic top positions
1998: Epidemiological fellowship Dutch Cancer Society (1998) for proposal on gene-environment interactions in the etiology of cancer. This program included research projects in the Netherlands (6 months) and USA (1.5 years). Funding for a fellow (Van Gils, C.H.).

External positions

Member Scientific Council - Scientific Advisory role for the organization - International Agency for Research on Cancer

Adviseur vanuit onderzoekersrol MRI screening voor vrouwen met dicht borstweefsel - T.b.v de implementatie van MRI in het bevolkingsonderzoek borstkanker vragen van RIVM beantwoorden - RIVM

Bestuurslid Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Foundation - Fondsenwervende stichting van AvL besturen uit hoofde van bestuurdersfunctie KWF Kankerbestrijding - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Foundation

Bestuurslid (voorzitter per maart 2022) - Preventie van kanker - Gezondheidsfondsen voor Rookvrij

Bestuurder KWF Kankerbestrijding - Ik kan tijdens mijn bestuurstermijn geen subsidie-aanvragen indienen bij KWF - KWF Kankerbestrijding