Flora Van Leeuwen

Biography

Flora E. van Leeuwen graduated from the Wageningen Agricultural University (MSc in Human Nutrition) in 1981 (cum laude). In the same year she became head of the Department of Tumor Documentation, Clinical Trials and Epidemiology of the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, with the specific task to start an Epidemiology Group in this institute. In 1982-1983 she was awarded a research training fellowship by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and obtained a MSc degree in Epidemiology at the Department of Epidemiology of the School of Public Health of the University of Alabama in Birmingham, USA. From 1986-2010 she was Head of the Epidemiology Group of the Netherlands Cancer Institute. From 2010 onwards, she is head of the Division of Psychosocial Research and Epidemiology in the Netherlands Cancer Institute.

Research Interest

Her research group currently focuses on two principal research lines: (1) the assessment of the long‑term risks of second malignancy, cardiovascular disease and other comorbidities following treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast cancer, testicular cancer and childhood malignancy; the development and evaluation of cancer survivorship care programs. (2) the assessment of the roles of and hormone-related and genetic risk factors in the etiology of breast and ovarian cancer; special interest is in late effects of ovarian stimulation for in Vitro Fertilization and cancer etiology in BRCA1/2 families. In 1998 Flora van Leeuwen obtained a Chair in Cancer Epidemiology at The Faculty of Medicine from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.