prof. Katrien Vanthomme (PhD)

My research focusses on the topic of social inequalities in care throughout the cancer continuum and the development of tailored interventions according to the principles of proportionate universalism. As such, I am the (co-)promotor of projects focussing on the implementation of community health workers to promote breast cancer screening informed decision-making and participation among underscreened women in Flanders; social inequalities in untimely follow-up of abnormal pap smears; social disparities in the use of preventive health services across migrant backgrounds in Belgium; and social inequalities in HPV vaccination in adolescents.
 

Katrien Vanthomme obtained a PhD in Social Sciences (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 2017) and a master in sociology (Ghent University, 2008). She is an Assistant Professor Epidemiology and Prevention of Cancer within the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at Ghent University. In this position, she is developing a research line on social inequalities in care throughout the cancer continuum and the development of tailored interventions according to the principles of proportionate universalism.

Besides her role as researcher and lecturer in the field of research methodology, public health and epidemiology, she is also head of service at the Centre for Prevention and Early Detection of Cancer, which is the Ghent University Department of the Centre for Cancer Detection. In addition, Katrien is Deputy Chair of the Flemish working group on population screening (Flemish Government); member of the prevention expert committee Fight against Cancer (Kom op tegen Kanker); member of the General Assembly of the Centre for Cancer Detection; and Board member of the Support Centre for Welfare, Public Health and Family (Flemish Government). Furthermore, she is affiliated with the Research and Expertise Group for Psychosocial Oncology and Survivorship (REPOS, Ghent University Hospital), and the Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees (CESSMIR, Ghent University).
 

• Ilka Jacobs - doctoral fellow
• Sarah Derveeuw - doctoral fellow
• Marie Hendrickx - doctoral fellow
• Helena Deseure - doctoral fellow
• Jade Roeygens - doctoral fellow 
   

• (2025). Understanding the profile of community health workers in breast cancer screening education: women’s preferences and insights from a qualitative focus group study. International Journal for Equity in Health, 24(1), 193.
• (2025). Migrant and ethnic inequalities in cervical cancer screening: exploring the role of cultural health capital using data from the Belgian Health Interview Survey. BMC Public Health, 25(1), 2262.
• (2025). General Practitioners’ Needs and Preferences Regarding the Provision of Self-sampling Tests for Cervical Cancer Screening in Flanders, Belgium. Journal of Primary Care & Community Health, 16, 21501319251320178.
• (2025). A Nationwide Exploration of Social Inequalities in Cancer Mortality Amidst the COVID‐19 Pandemic in Belgium. Cancer medicine, 14(1), e70487.
• (2024). Factors related to the return to work of head and neck cancer patients diagnosed between 2004–2011 in Belgium: a multivariate Fine-Gray regression model analysis. Archives of Public Health, 82(1), 155.
• (2023). Evaluating the health and health economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on delayed cancer care in Belgium: A Markov model study protocol. Plos one, 18(10), e0288777.
• (2022). Colorectal cancer incidence and survival inequalities among labour immigrants in Belgium during 2004–2013. Scientific reports, 12(1), 15727.
• (2021). Lung cancer incidence differences in migrant men in Belgium, 2004–2013: histology-specific analyses. BMC cancer, 21(1), 328.
• (2021). Cancer risk among individuals of migrant origin in Belgium during the 2000s–Evidence of migration as a ‘cancer risk transition’? Social Science & Medicine, 269, 113591.
• (2018). Socioeconomic position, population density and site‐specific cancer mortality: A multilevel analysis of Belgian adults, 2001–2011. International journal of cancer, 142(1), 23-35.
   

• Lab address: Campus UZ Gent, entrance 42, 4K3, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Gent
• Department of Public Health and Primary Care
• LinkedIn
• Google Scholar
• Member of REPOS (Research and Expertise Group for Psychosocial Oncology and Survivorship)
• Prof. Vanthomme is interested to receive invitations for presentations or talks