Dr GHW Verrips (b. 1952) has been appointed extraordinary professor of Oral Health and Quality of Life at the Faculty of Dentistry (ACTA) of the Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA). The chair has been endowed by Stichting Lorentz-van Itersonfonds TNO.

As extraordinary professor Erik Verrips will, in his research, focus on discovering behavioural determinants of oral health in relation to quality of life, and on developing models that could predict this relationship. Furthermore, he will be paying attention to developing, evaluating and implementing interventions aimed at securing and promoting oral health and quality of life. The development of health promoting interventions which can be implemented by child health services and dental healthcare (prevention of oral disease, smoking and obesity) will also have a pivotal role in Verrips’s research.

Mr Verrips studied developmental psychology and clinical psychology at the universities of Utrecht, Leyden and Amsterdam. He was employed at the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA) from 1983 till 1988, where he was responsible for instruction in communications skills. He joined the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research of TNO (NIPG-TNO) in 1988 as senior researcher in the department of Dental Care and Epidemiology. In 1993, he obtained his PhD with his thesis Child dental health and ethnicity in the Netherlands. Mr Verrips subsequently worked as head of the department Quality of Life and head of the department of Child Heath of TNO. Currently he is responsible for programming research in the field of Children and Health at TNO Prevention and Healthcare.