Dr. N.M.A. (Niels) van den Berg

I am an Assistant Professor at the LUMC Department of Biomedical Data Sciences and the Health Campus The Hague. I have a background in computational sociology and research methods and I obtained a PhD in Molecular Epidemiology in 2020. My research integrates large-scale family, social, and molecular data to better understand how our social context influences the (molecular) mechanisms underlying the intergenerational transmission of healthy aging and longevity. I focus on how socioeconomic resources such as income, education, and social networks, together with lifestyle factors, are exchanged within families, interact with health, and influence chronic disease risk later in life. In addition, I work on combining social and omics data to predict disease risk across the life course. My work is multidisciplinary, drawing on aging research, demography, and socio-genomics. My research is supported by multiple grants, including a Riksbankens Jubileumsfond grant and an NWO Veni grant.

Life expectancy has increased significantly over the past centuries, but not everyone benefitted equally. Persons with a low socioeconomic status (SES) live on average 8.5 years shorter and become ill 24 years earlier. I have shown that this inequality is not only individual, but also familial. Some families experience healthy aging across generations, while others face early illness and premature death. I study how social and economic conditions, together with molecular factors such as genetics and biomarkers, contribute to healthy aging. By analyzing large datasets and developing new statistical methods, I investigate the causes and consequences of socioeconomic health disparities. My goal is to understand how lifestyle and resources—such as education, social networks, and wealth—shape the aging process. My work has been published in leading journals, and I regularly present my findings to both academic audiences and the general public.