About Trudy2021-02-04T21:52:17+01:00

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.
Trudy Voortman
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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.

Voedingsonderzoeker Trudy Voortman van de Erasmus Universiteit heeft een duidelijke boodschap voor artsen: “Adviseer patiënten eerst een gezondere leefstijl. Grote kans dat veel van die statines en bloeddrukverlagers dan niet meer nodig zijn.”
VoedingNU Vitamin D
Does soy cause man boobs?

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

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