Rate My Professor Lennert Veerman

Professor Lennert Veerman is Professor of Public Health at Griffith University’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, where he leads the Public Health & Economics Modelling group. A Dutch-trained public health physician, he holds an MD from the Free University Amsterdam (1999), a Masters in Public Health from the Netherlands Institute for Health Sciences (2004), and a PhD from Erasmus University Rotterdam (2007). His career trajectory encompasses roles as Public Health Physician caring for asylum seekers in the Netherlands (1999-2002), Researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam (2002-2007), Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer at The University of Queensland (2007-2017), Senior Health Economist at Cancer Council NSW (2017), Professor at Griffith University (2018-present), along with adjunct associate professor at The University of Sydney and Honorary Senior Fellow at The University of Queensland (both 2017-present). Veerman’s research specializes in the mathematical modelling of effects and cost-effectiveness of preventive interventions. His expertise covers epidemiological modelling, burden of disease studies, control of non-communicable diseases, health impact assessment, and the economic evaluation of prevention strategies. Key topics include obesity, cancer, physical activity, sugar-sweetened beverages, and alcohol policy.

He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, with significant contributions to Global Burden of Disease studies, such as “A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990–2010” (The Lancet, 2012) and “Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2015” (The Lancet, 2016). Recent publications feature “The Avoidable Health Burden and Healthcare Costs Related to Alcohol Consumption in Australia: Multistate Life Table Modelling” (2025) and modelling studies on taxing sugar-sweetened drinks and food taxes. His work has amassed over 53,000 citations, demonstrating substantial impact in public health and health economics. Veerman holds memberships in the Public Health Association of Australia, Australia & New Zealand Obesity Society, and Australian Health Economics Society.