London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine homepage

Dr

Kevin van Zandvoort

Assistant Professor

Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Dynamics

Orcid identifier0000-0002-7770-0537
  • Assistant Professor
    Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Dynamics

BIO

I am an infectious disease epidemiologist and modeller with experience in study design, field data collection, and data analysis, including statistical and transmission modelling. I have been working at the School since completing my MSc in Epidemiology here in 2017. Prior to this, I worked as a webdeveloper in the Netherlands.

 

My research primarily focusses on pneumococcal vaccination strategies:

  1. Identifying pneumococcal vaccination strategies in humanitarian crises
    I am the main researcher on the ESPICC and EEPICC studies exploring effective PCV vaccination strategies that could feasibly be used in humanitarian crises. We are currently evaluating the effectiveness of a PCV campaign in children <5y living in a camp for displaced people in Somaliland, with the vaccination strategy informed by mathematical modelling and primary data collection. This short animated video and this conference talk summarize the main modelled results.

  2. Understanding the effect of reduced-dose routine vaccination schedules
    I am the main modeller on a cluster randomized controlled trial in Vietnam evaluating the effect of reduced-dose routine PCV schedules (0p+1 and 1p+1) relative to currently recommended 3-dose schedules (3p+0 and 2p+1). We are currently trying to understand whether the potential increased health burden when switching to a 2-dose schedule may be justified by the substantial cost savings from removing one dose. Preliminary results were presented in this webinar.

  3. Modelling other pneumococcal vaccination projects
    My generalizable compartmental metapopulation PCV transmission model can easily be adapted to other settings, using any number of populations, vaccination schedules, and age groups. I work with other collaborators using the model to analyse different pneumococcal projects, including the PVS trial in the Gambia (led by the MRC unit the Gambia), fPCV trial in Niger (led by Epicentre), and other studies in Fiji, Somaliland, and China.

  4. Social contact studies
    In addition to my vaccination work, I have been involved in the design, implementation, and analysis of several social contact studies. These include the CoMix study measuring contact patterns using the Covid-19 pandemic, the ongoing UK social contact study, and contact studies in the Gambia, Niger, informal settlements in Kenya, and a camp for displaced people in Somaliland.

LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE AND TROPICAL MEDICINE APPOINTMENTS

  • Assistant Professor
    London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London, United Kingdom1 Aug 2025 - present
  • Research Fellow
    London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London, United Kingdom1 Oct 2018 - 31 Jul 2025
  • Research Assistant
    London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London, United Kingdom18 Sep 2017 - 30 Sep 2018

NON-ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Full stack web-developer
    nxtmix, Sittard, Netherlands1 Jan 2012 - 30 Sep 2016

DEGREES

  • PhD
    London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom24 Sep 2018 - 5 Nov 2024
  • MSc Epidemiology
    London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom1 Sep 2016 - 31 Aug 2017
  • BSc European Public Health
    Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands1 Sep 2013 - 30 Sep 2016

LANGUAGES

  • English
    Can peer review
  • Dutch; Flemish
    Can peer review

RESEARCH CENTRES

  • Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases
  • Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre
  • Vaccine Centre