Isabelle van der Velpen, M.D., Ph.D.

Isabelle van der Velpen, M.D., Ph.D. (she/her), joined DCEG as a postdoctoral fellow in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB) in September 2024. Dr. van der Velpen earned her M.D. from Leiden University, Netherlands, in 2018 and a master’s degree in vitality and ageing from the Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing, Leiden. She earned her a master’s degree in health sciences and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands. For her doctoral work, she studied longitudinal associations between social health and brain structure in older adults and explored potential underlying biological mechanisms. Prior to joining DCEG, Dr. van der Velpen worked at the National Institute of Mental Health on neuroimaging research in neurodevelopmental disorders.

She was selected for the 2025 Sallie Rosen Kaplan Fellowship Program.

In REB, Dr. van der Velpen investigates associations between radiation exposure and neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative outcomes under the mentorship of Cari Kitahara, Ph.D.