GELIFES Seminars - Tessa Roseboom

Tessa Roseboom (University of Amsterdam)

How the early environment shapes later health and wellbeing - Lessons from history that will help improve the health of future generations

Tessa Roseboom is a Professor of Early Development and Health at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Her work focuses on the impact of the early life environment on growth, development and health throughout life. Her studies in the Dutch famine birth cohort provided the first direct evidence in humans that maternal nutrition during gestation affected offspring ́s and potentially grand-offspring’s health (www.hongerwinter.nl). Her current research focuses on the fundamental biological processes that underlie ‘developmental programming’ and on translation to current pregnancies, in developed and developing settings. These studies include observational and experimental studies of the long term consequences of lifestyle interventions before and during pregnancy (www.womb-project.eu), obstetric interventions, hyperemesis gravidarum, and assisted reproduction techniques. The ultimate aim of her work is to contribute to improved human health by giving each child the best possible start in life.