Sciensano

Sciensano is the federale institute of public health in Belgium. Sciensano’s strength lies in its holistic and multidisciplinary approach to health. More particularly we focus on the close and indissoluble interconnection between human and animal health and their environment (the “One Health” concept). By combining different research perspectives within this framework, Sciensano contributes to everybody’s health in a unique way.

The team at Sciensano

Dr. Karin De Ridder

Dr. Karin De Ridder. Obtained her PhD in Public Health at the Norwegian University of Sciences and Technology in 2014. Her doctoral thesis focused on advanced epidemiological methods in the field of social epidemiology and longitudinal register-based research, complemented by a doctor-specialisation in Community Health (Norway, 2008). She was project leader of the Food Consumption Survey 2014. Currently, she is Head of Service of Lifestyle and Chronic Diseases, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health in Sciensano. The Service focuses on population health, nutrition and food environment, illicit drugs, morbidity and mortality, health impact assessments and survey methodology.

Dr. Stefanie Vandevijvere

Dr. Stefanie Vandevijvere is a senior public health nutrition scientist. Her research focuses on nutrition policies for obesity prevention locally, nationally and globally. Her work aims to support the development and implementation of policies to effectively and equitably improve the quality of population diets. In particular, she has an interest in the role of food environments in determining people’s dietary habits and how to hold governments and food businesses to account for their actions to create healthy food environments to effectively reduce obesity.

Yasemin Inaç

Yasemin Inaç obtained her Bachelor's Degree in Nursing with a specialization in infectious diseases from the University of Applied Sciences Leiden, The Netherlands (2016) and her Master's Degree in Epidemiology with a specialization in the epidemiology of tropical- and infectious diseases from the University of Antwerp (2019). In 2019, Yasemin worked as a research assistant at Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters at the University of Louvain there her research focused on nutrition in the context of complex emergencies. At the moment she is conducting doctoral research together with Sciensano, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Universiteit Gent. Her doctoral research is primarily focused on objectively assessing the physical environment through participatory geographic information systems (GIS) of two municipalities in Flanders (Belgium).

Suzannah D’Hooghe

Suzannah D’Hooghe obtained her Master’s Degree in Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (2017) and her Master’s Degree in Conflict and Development at Universiteit Gent (2018). Currently, she is conducting doctoral research to obtain her doctoral degree in collaboration with Sciensano, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Universiteit Gent. Her research focuses on health inequity and community-based participatory research in the local settings of municipalities in Flanders (Belgium). She works closely together with the local government, local stakeholders and citizens in the municipalities to explore the perceived environmental determinants of a healthy lifestyle, more in particular physical activity and healthy diet, among socioeconomically disadvantaged adults.