Veerle Buffel

Biography:

Since October 2023, I am assistant professor at the Department of Sociology VUB). I studied sociology at Ghent University, where I also did my PhD (2016) and postdoc (2019) about the mental health impact of the economic crisis and medicalization of precarious work from a macro sociologic perspective. Thereafter, I was research leader ‘Health economy’ at HIVA (KUL) and postdoc at the University of Antwerp, where I worked on national and international projects on equal access to care, integrated chronic care and sexual preventive health. I am principal investigator of the Covid 19 international student wellbeing study, and co-organizer of the ESHMS (European Society of Health and Medical Sociology) conference in 2024, hosted in Belgium (Antwerp), with as topic ‘Intersectionality and inclusion in health sociology’. Since 2022, I am also co-founder of Data4PHM, which is interdisciplinary consortium of researchers (UA, KUL, and VUB) and data owners (IMA, Sciensano, Pharmaflux), to support population health management in Belgium.

Expertise:
Mental health, medicalization, chronic care, sexual health, health inequalities, stigma research and social norms

Related projects:
Improving Medical Decision-Making within a Super-Diverse Society: Challenges and Legal Opportunities (BOF IMPULS, UA)
Cost effectiveness of levels of implementation of integrated Chronic care for Diabetes and its Comorbidities across different primary care practices in Flanders (DOCPRO, UA)
Determinants of diabetes care and outcomes: a multi-level analysis across the continuum of care (FWO)
Student life during COVID-19. An in-depth analysis of vulnerable student populations within the Belgian context and of how higher-education policies can strengthen their resilience (UCB-Community Health Funds, KBS)
C19 ISWS – COVID 19 International Student Well-Being Study (BOF, UA)
Primary Care Academy (KBS, Fonds Daniel De Coninck)
A culturally-sensitive stigma survey among adolescents in Flanders: Understanding causes and consequences to tackle stigmatisation (FWO-Red noses)