Search
Support us
Van Leeuwen Fl
Floor van Leeuwen

Floor van Leeuwen

Phone Email

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 initiate an Epidemiology Research 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 - 2022 she was head of the Division of Psychosocial Research and Epidemiology in the Netherlands Cancer Institute (65 employees).

Her research group currently focuses on three principal research lines:

(1) The assessment of the long‑term risks of second malignancy, cardiovascular disease and other comorbidities following treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma, breast cancer, testicular cancer and childhood malignancy; the development and evaluation of cancer survivorship care programs.

(2) A topic related to late effects of cancer treatment concerns our research related to breast implants. In 2008 we reported the first epidemiological study demonstrating that breast implants are associated with a strongly increased risk of a rare type of breast lymphoma, i.e. anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) 

(3) 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.

She has been awarded a large number of grants on late adverse effects of cancer treatment; in addition she established and coordinates the Dutch BETER consortium, aimed at the establishment of survivorship clinics for survivors of lymphoma in 24 Dutch hospitals. In 2019 she was awarded the 17th Rosalind E. Franklin Award for Women in Cancer Science from the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

Since 1998 Flora van Leeuwen holds a Chair in Cancer Epidemiology at The Faculty of Medicine from the University of Amsterdam.

Fields of expertise

Cancer Epidemiology

Work experience

2022 - present     Groupleader Epidemiology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam

2010 – 2022    Head of Division of Psychosocial Research and Epidemiology, Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), Amsterdam

1998 – present    Professor (Chair in Cancer Epidemiology, EMGO Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Amsterdam.

1989 – 2010        Consulting epidemiologist to the Comprehensive Cancer Center Amsterdam.

1986 – 2010        Head of the Subsection on Epidemiology,
Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam.

1981 – 1986        Head of the Tumor Registry, Clinical Trial Unit and Epidemiology Unit, Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), Amsterdam.

Explore the research of the Flora van Leeuwen group

Flora van Leeuwen

News and highlights

Leeuwen Floor V Lintje 20240119 02

Floor van Leeuwen awarded title of Knight in the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands at farewell

Epidemiologist and group leader Floor van Leeuwen was awarded the title of Knight in the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands. She received this distinction for her groundbreaking work from the mayor of Wageningen during her farewell symposium at the Netherlands Cancer Institute.

Read more
Epidemiologist Floor Van Leeuwen Receives Oeuvre Award

Floor van Leeuwen to receive Achievement award from Netherlands Epidemiological Society

Epidemiology professor Floor van Leeuwen was surprised with the honorable Achievement Award 2021 that she was awarded by the Netherlands Epidemiological Society (Vereniging voor Epidemiologie; VvE) on June 4. Floor has previously received an international achievement award, the Rosalind E. Franklin Award. She was commended for the high quality of her research. “An example for young, ambitious epidemiologists”

Read more

Additional Activities

  • Professor of Cancer Epidemiology, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, location VUMC.
  • Member of the Dutch Task Force on Cancer Survivorship Issues
  • Vice-Chairman of Sounding Board of Chromium-6 exposure in Dutch occupational settings
  • Member of CBS (Statistics Netherlands) Committee on provision of cause of death information for research
  • Chairman of the Steering Group of the OMEGA project (Cancer risk after ovarian stimulation for IVF)  
  • Member of Scientific Advisory Board of the Netherlands DES Center.
  • Member of Steering Group of the Netherlands Collaborative Group on Heriditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (HEBON)
  • Member of the US Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS) External Advisory Committee
  • Member of Scientific Committee of the International Symposium on Hodgkin Lymphoma (ISHL)
  • Member of Scientific Committee of the North American Symposium on Late Complications after Childhood Cancer (NASLCCC)
  • Fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences
  • Member of The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) Working Group evaluating Epidemiological Studies on Radiation and Cancer
  • Member of Editorial Board of Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI)

This site uses cookies

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.