I.G.M. van Valkengoed PhD

PhD I.G.M. van Valkengoed

Position

Assistant Professor

Main activities

Education, Research

Specialisation

Social inequalities in cardiovascular and metabolic health

Focus of research

My research focuses on understanding the inequalities in cardiovascular and metabolic health between population subgroups defined by ethnicity, socio-economic position, place of residence, sex/gender and their intersections. This includes observational studies aimed at describing the occurrence of health inequalities, e.g. differences between ethnic groups in type 2 diabetes incidence, socio-economic gradients in sudden cardiac arrest or gender differences in cardiovascular disease risk. In addition, this line includes observational and intervention studies aimed at investigating the environmental, behavioural and metabolic determinants of these inequalities. This will help our understanding how the ‘social’ becomes ‘biological’, i.e. how the way society is organized and the social environments in which we live affects our health. The work will contribute to the wider scientific fields of public health and cardiovascular epidemiology, and provide evidence for public health and clinical recommendations aimed at improving cardiovascular health, in particular for socially disadvantaged people.