Roel Vermeulen is Distinguished University Professor of Planetary and Public Health and Professor of Environmental Epidemiology and Exposome Science at Utrecht University and UMC Utrecht, working at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS) and the Julius Center. His research asks how environmental exposures become biological change, disease risk and opportunities for prevention. He built exposome science into an international field, directing Exposome-NL and EXPANSE, heading the Dutch EIRENE node and co-founding the International Human Exposome Network and the European and Global Exposome Forums. He co-authored the 2020 Science paper that framed the exposome as a research field.
Roel Vermeulen is Principal Investigator of Exposome-NL. He leads the consortium's effort to measure the exposome at population scale and link it to health, bringing together researchers from several Dutch universities and medical centres. Within the programme he oversees shared infrastructure, including the Exposome-Scan facility for untargeted chemical screening and the Exposome-Maps facility, which provides geographically based exposure data. He supervises PhD candidates and postdocs. His aim is to turn exposome data into evidence that supports prevention and healthier living environments.
"In a rapidly changing world, my goal is to develop tools, knowledge and actions that prevent disease and promote health, supporting a healthy and resilient future."
Image: Thijs Rooimans
Youchen Shen, Kees de Hoogh, Oliver Schmitz, Nick Clinton, Karin Tuxen-Bettman, Jørgen Brandt, Jesper H. Christensen, Lise M. Frohn, Camilla Geels, Derek Karssenberg, Roel Vermeulen, Gerard Hoek
Science of the Total Environment (2024)
Zhendong Yuan, Jules Kerckhoffs, Pi-i Debby Lin, Esra Suel, Hao Li, Li Yi, Marcia Pescador Jimenez, Peter James, Kees de Hoogh, Gerard Hoek, Roel Vermeulen
Environmental Science & Technology (2025)
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)
Mishra, S., Vaartjes, I., Van der Schouw, Y.T., Bijnens, E.M., Boer, J.M.A, Downward, G.S., Vermeulen, R.C.H., Verschuren, W.M.M., Nawrot, T.S., & Timmermans, E.J.
Health & Place (2025)
Anne-Charlotte Dubbelman, Bo van Wieringen, Lesley Roman Arias, Michael van Vliet, Roel Vermeulen, Amy C. Harms, and Thomas Hankemeier
Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (2024)
Maria Gabriela M. Pinho, Yvonne Koop, Joreintje D. Mackenbach, Jeroen Lakerveld, Mariana Simões, Roel Vermeulen, Alfred J. Wagtendonk, Ilonca Vaartjes and Joline W. J. Beulens
BMC Medicine (2024)
Youchen Shen, Kees de Hoogh, Oliver Schmitz, John Gullivere, Danielle Vienneau, Roel Vermeulen, Gerard Hoek, Derek Karssenberg
Atmospheric Environment (2024)
Caspar W. Safarlou, Karin R. Jongsma, Roel Vermeulen,
Environmental Health Perspectives (2024)
Tabea S. Sonnenschein, G. Ardine de Wit, Nicolette R. den Braver, Roel C.H. Vermeulen, Simon Scheider
Information Sciences (2024)
Zhendong Yuan, Youchen Shen, Gerard Hoek, Roel Vermeulen, Jules Kerckhoffs
Science of The Total Environment (2024)
Caspar W. Safarlou, Roel Vermeulen, Karin R. Jongsma
Bioethics (2024)
Lai Wei, Joreintje D. Mackenbach, Maartje P. Poelman, Roel Vermeulen, Marco Helbich
Health & Place (2023)
Donghai Liang, Zhenjiang Li, Jelle Vlaanderen, Ziyin Tang, Dean P. Jones, Roel Vermeulen, and Jeremy A. Sarnat
Environmental Health Perspective (2023)
Max J. Oosterwegel, Dorina Ibi, Lützen Portengen, Nicole Probst-Hensch, Sonia Tarallo, Alessio Naccarati, Medea Imboden, Ayoung Jeong, Nivonirina Robinot, Augustin Scalbert, Andre F. S. Amaral, Erik van Nunen, John Gulliver, Marc Chadeau-Hyam, Paolo Vineis, Roel Vermeulen, Pekka Keski-Rahkonen, and Jelle Vlaanderen
Environmental Science & Technology (2023)
C. W. Safarlou, M. van Smeden, R. Vermeulen, K. R. Jongsma
The American Journal of Bioethics (2023)
Milla F Brandao Gois, Asier Fernández-Pato, Anke Huss, Ranko Gacesa, Cisca Wijmenga, Rinse K Weersma, Jingyuan Fu, Roel C H Vermeulen, Alexandra Zhernakova, Virissa C Lenters, Alexander Kurilshikov
Front. Microbiol. (2023)
Caspar W Safarlou, Karin R Jongsma, Roel Vermeulen, Annelien L Bredenoord
Exposome (2023)
Naama Karu, Alida Kindt, Adriaan J van Gammeren, Anton A M Ermens, Amy C Harms, Lutzen Portengen, Roel C H Vermeulen, Willem A Dik, Anton W Langerak, Vincent H J van der Velden, Thomas Hankemeier
Metabolites (2022)
Naama Karu, Alida Kindt, Lieke Lamont, Adriaan J van Gammeren, Anton A M Ermens, Amy C Harms, Lutzen Portengen, Roel C H Vermeulen, Willem A Dik, Anton W Langerak, Vincent H J van der Velden, Thomas Hankemeier
Metabolites (2022)
Femke Bouma, Gerard Hoek, Gerard H Koppelman, Judith M Vonk, Jules Kerckhoffs, Roel Vermeulen, Ulrike Gehring
Environmental Research (2022)
Lai Wei, Mei-Po Kwan, Roel Vermeulen, Marco Helbich
Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology (2024)
Tabea Sonnenschein, Simon Scheider, G Ardine de Wit, Cathryn C Tonne, Roel Vermeulen
Exposome (2022)
J. Kerckhoffs, J. Khan, G. Hoek, Z. Yuan, O. Hertel, M. Ketzel, S. Solvang Jensen, F. Al Hasan, K. Meliefste, R. Vermeulen
Environment International (2022)
H. Ohanyan, L. Portengen, O. Kaplani, A. Huss, G. Hoek, J.W.J. Beulens, J. Lakerveld, R. Vermeulen
Environment International (2022)
Z. Yuan, J. Kerckhoffs, G. Hoek, R. Vermeulen
Environ Sci Technol (2022)
Zhendong Yuan, Jules Kerckhoffs, Youchen Shen, Kees de Hoogh, Gerard Hoek, Roel Vermeulen
Environmental Research (2023)
Youchen Shen, Kees de Hoogh, Oliver Schmitz, Nicholas Clinton, Karin Tuxen-Bettman, Jørgen Brandt, Jesper Christensen, Lise Frohn, Camilla Geels, Derek Karssenberg, Roel Vermeulen, Gerard Hoek
Environment International (2022)
R. Gacesa, A. Kurilshikov, A. Vich Vila, T. Sinha, M.A.Y. Klaassen L.A. Bolte, S. Andreu-Sánchez, L. Chen, V. Collij, S. Hu, J.A.M. Dekens, V.C. Lenters, J.R. Björk, J.C. Swarte, M.A. Swertz, B.H. Jansen, J. Gelderloos-Arends, S. Jankipersadsing, M. Hofker, R.C.H. Vermeulen, S. Sanna, H.J.M. Harmsen, C. Wijmenga, J. Fu, A. Zhernakova, R.K. Weersma
Nature (2022)
Jules Kerckhoffs, Jibran Khan, Gerard Hoek, Zhendong Yuan, Thomas Ellermann, Ole Hertel, Matthias Ketzel, Steen Solvang Jensen, Kees Meliefste, Roel Vermeulen
Environment Science and Technology (2022)
Haykanush Ohanyan, Lützen Portengren, Anke Huss, Eugenio Traini, Joline W.J. Beulens, Gerard Hoek, Jeroen Lakerveld, Roel Vermeulen
Environment International (2022)
Pinho MGM, Lakerveld J, Harbers MC, Sluijs I, Vermeulen R, Huss A, Boer JMA, Verschuren WMM, Brug J, Beulens JWJ, Mackenbach JD.
European Journal of Nutrition (2021)
Safarlou CW, Bredenoord AL, Vermeulen R, Jongsma KR.
Am J Bioeth (2021)
Beulens JWJ, Pinho MGM, Abreu TC, den Braver NR, Lam TM, Huss A, Vlaanderen J, Sonnenschein T, Siddiqui NZ, Yuan Z, Kerckhoffs J, Zhernakova A, Brandao Gois MF, Vermeulen RCH.
Diabetologia (2021)
Roel Vermeulen, Emma L. Schymanski, Albert-Laszlo Barabási, Gary W. Miller
Science (2020)
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ORCID: 0000-0002-1672-9661
Institute for Risk Assesment Sciences (IRAS)
Utrecht University
Air quality Environmental Epidemiology Epidemiology Exposure Assessment Exposure Science Microplastics Molecular Epidemiology Pesticides Risk Assessment Sensors
The environment we live in has a dominant impact on our health. It explains an estimated seventy percent of the chronic disease burden. Where we live, what we eat, how much we exercise, the air we breathe and whom we associate with; all of these environmental factors play a role. The combination of these factors over the life course is called the exposome. There is general (scientific) consensus that understanding more about the exposome will help explain the current burden of disease and that it provides entry points for prevention and ...
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