Fränzel van Duijnhoven

Dr. Fränzel van Duijnhoven serves as an Associate Professor at the Division of Human Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University & Research, bringing extensive expertise in cancer epidemiology and nutritional research. Her academic journey began with dual master's degrees - one in biomedical sciences from Utrecht University (2001) and another in genetic epidemiology from Erasmus Medical Center (2004), followed by a PhD in cancer epidemiology from Utrecht University (2006). After completing her postdoctoral research at the National Institute for Public Health and Environment, where she worked on the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, she has established herself as a leading researcher in colorectal cancer epidemiology. Her current research focuses on understanding how dietary and lifestyle factors influence both sporadic and hereditary colorectal cancer, particularly Lynch syndrome, through an integrative epidemiological approach. She leads the significant COLON study, a multi-centre prospective cohort study investigating how nutrition and lifestyle factors affect colorectal cancer treatment outcomes, recurrence, and survival. Her work has resulted in over 100 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, and she maintains active collaborations with researchers and cohort consortia worldwide. Through her research and teaching in the "Nutrition and Cancer" MOOC and Professional Certificate Programme in Nutrition and Disease, she continues to advance our understanding of the complex relationships between lifestyle factors, genetic predisposition, and cancer outcomes.