Dr. ir. Trudy Voortman
Nutrition Scientist & Epidemiologist
Trudy Voortman is a nutrition scientist and epidemiologist. She works as associate professor at the Division of Human Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University and at the Department of Epidemiology at Erasmus University Medical Center. Her research focuses on the role of nutrition in health and disease throughout the life course, for example during pregnancy, infancy, childhood, menopause, or old age.
Connecting scientists
Trudy is registered nutrition scientist and active member of NAV, the Dutch Academy for Nutrition Sciences, and she is organizer of the yearly Dutch Nutritional Science Days.
She is a member of the European Nutrition Leadership Platform, mentor for junior nutrition scientists at the American Society of Nutrition, and member of the talent network of the Dutch Council for Health and Society.
Work Experience & Education
Trudy holds a BSc and an MSc degree in Nutrition Sciences from Wageningen University, an MSc degree in Epidemiology from the Netherlands Institute of Health Sciences (NIHES), and a PhD degree in Epidemiology from Erasmus University.
Previously, she worked as nutrition scientist at Unilever Research & Development in the Netherlands, at Nestlé Research Center in Switzerland, and at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston in the US.
January 2021
Associate professor
2021-present Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
Division of Human Nutrition and Health
November 2017
Research group leader, Associate professor
2017-present Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Management: research group leader of the Nutrition & Lifestyle group, Principal investigator for nutrition, lifestyle and obesity data in the Generation R and Rotterdam Study
Research: The role of nutrition and lifestyle in health and disease throughout the life course
Teaching: Nutrition & Health; Global public health; Epidemiology
Other: Scientific integrity officer dept of Epidemiology; Coordinator of the master research projects dept of Epidemiology
October 2015
Postdoctoral scientist
2015-2017 Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Research: Nutrition and cardiometabolic health throughout the life course
Teaching: Global public health; Maternal & child health; Lifestyle & non-communicable diseases
Other: Scientific integrity officer Department of Epidemiology
June 2015
Postdoctoral scientist
2015-2016 Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, U.S.A.
Seven-month research visit for a project on dietary patterns, inflammation, and type 2 diabetes at the Department of Nutrition
February 2015
Visiting researcher
2015 Nestlé Research Center, Lausanne, Switzerland
One-month research visit for a collaborative project on maternal diet and breast milk quality
January 2015
Dutch Academy of Nutrition Sciences (NAV)
2015-2019 Board member of young-NAV (Nederlandse Academie van Voedingswetenschappen), the Dutch Academy of Nutrition Sciences
August 2014
MSc Health Sciences
2012-2014 Netherlands Institute for Health Sciences (NIHES), Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Specialization: Epidemiology
May 2012
PhD Epidemiology
2012-2015 Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Research: Nutrition in early life and child body composition and cardiometabolic health.
Teaching: Global public health; Maternal & child health
Other: Organization weekly seminars at the department of Epidemiology
September 2011
Nutrition scientist
2011-2012 Unilever Research and Development, Vlaardingen, the Netherlands
Main research focus: phytosterols and cholesterol
October 2010
Visiting scholar
2010-2011 University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.
In vitro and animal studies on the regulation of lipolysis, at the Department of Nutritional Science and Toxicology, as part of a research internship in Metabolism & Nutrigenomics
March 2010
Research intern
2010-2010 TNO Quality of Life, Zeist, the Netherlands
Characterization of a new ex vivo model to study intestinal release of satiety hormones, part of a Master’s thesis in Nutrition and Pharmacology
September 2009
MSc Nutrition and Health
2009-2011 Wageningen University, the Netherlands
Specialization: Molecular Nutrition
January 2008
Chemistry teacher
2008-2011 Chemistry teacher at Stichting Studiebegeleiding Leiden at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands
September 2006
BSc Nutrition and Health
2006-2009 Wageningen University, the Netherlands