Prof. dr. mr. A. (Anniek) de Ruijter
Faculty of Law
Gezondheidsrecht
Visiting address
- Nieuwe Achtergracht 166
- Room number: 10.02
Postal address
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Postbus 15859
1001 NJ Amsterdam
Contact details
Social media
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Profile
I study how law shapes the conditions under which individuals and populations can live healthy lives and be cared for when they are sick. How do legal frameworks enable collective protection, structure public authority, and safeguard individual rights in the face of health risks, technological transformation, and societal change - especially as health policy and law increasingly operate across national, European, and global levels?
To advance this work, I initiated and co-lead Law for Health & Life, an interdisciplinary group within the department of Public Law, where we conduct research and education at the intersection of health law and the living environment. My research focuses on three interconnected lines of inquiry.
The first examines the expansion of health governance beyond the national level, particularly within the European Union and global governance frameworks. My monograph, EU Health Law & Policy: The Expansion of EU Power in Public Health and Health Care (Oxford University Press, 2019), shows how EU law has gradually assumed a central role in shaping public health and health care systems. This expansion becomes particularly visible during health crises. Supported by an NWO Veni grant (2018), I did research around the constitutional order governing pandemic preparedness, infectious disease control, and emergency response. A central theme that came from this work is how solidarity works as a structuring principle of European and global health governance. In a number of publications and in leading a number of Horizon Europe projects, and as part of the Global Health Research Priority Area of the UvA, we examine the role of law in access to medicines, vaccine distribution, and coordinated responses to COVID-19 and cross-border health threats globally.
In a second line of research I examine together with others how law shapes the structural and commercial determinants of health, particularly food environments. European internal market law significantly influences the ability of national and local governments to regulate for public health. In collaboration with the City of Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Wageningen University and other partners, I have contributed to developing legal and policy approaches to healthier food environments, including the report Tussen Mens en Ruimte and ongoing work on a food environment monitor to support evidence-based urban health governance.
My third line of research focuses on the legal implications of digitalization and artificial intelligence in health. As digital technologies increasingly shape health systems, we examine how European and national legal frameworks can ensure that innovation promotes health equity and protects fundamental rights. I co-lead research on AI and health decision-making at the University of Amsterdam and initiated and co-lead of the NWO-funded ELSA Lab AI for Health Equity.
Profile
I obtained my law degrees from the University of Amsterdam (2007) and Columbia University (2008) as a Fulbright Fellow, and have held visiting positions at Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, the Sorbonne, and as a Fernand Braudel Fellow at European University Institute.
I care a lot about the role of law teaching that connect to the experiences and values of students. In this regard I co-founded and initated as its director the Amsterdam Law Practice, which is a legal experiential and clinical programme for 17 masters at the Law School. For setting up this new educational programme we were recognized through the Higher Education Award programme of the Dutch Ministery of Education. I also initiated the creation of the Amsterdam Law Hub, a place and project to connect our research and teaching with society. Further I and serve on the editorial boards of the European Journal of Risk Regulation and The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.
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Teaching
Coordinator of International and European Health Law, mandatory course in the master Health Law
PhD supervision:
- Hannah van Kolfschooten, Patients’ rights protection and artificial intelligence in the European Union
- Pramiti Parwani (Cum Laude), States capabilities of least-developed countries to access pandemic vaccines - EU and India's legal and regulatory influence
- Samira Koullali (ongoing), Legal measures to reduce the burden of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR): a legal and policy analysis
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Maria Helena Nygren Krug (ongoing), The right to health
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Publications
- refereed (40)
- professional (12)
- popular scientific (11)
- recognitions (12)
- doctoral thesis (1)
- datasets (1)
2025
Parwani, P., Perehudoff, K., & de Ruijter, A. (2025). Trust beyond borders: European external regulatory influence on access to medicines. The Journal of law, medicine & ethics, 53(3), 365-378. https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2025.10140 [details]- de Ruijter, A., & Ippel, K. A. (2025). Serious Cross-Border Health Threats. Manuscript submitted for publication. In Oxford Encyclopedia of EU Law Oxford University Press.
2024
- Greer, S., Rozenblum, S., Fahy, N., Panteli, D., de Ruijter, A., Jarman, H., & Wismar, M. (2024). Everything you always wanted to know about European Union health policies but were afraid to ask: Fourth revised edition. (4th revised ed.) European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications/i/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-european-union-health-policies-but-were-afraid-to-ask-fourth-revised
- McKee, M., & de Ruijter, A. (2024). The path to a European Health Union. The Lancet Regional Health - Europe, 36, Article 100794. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100794 [details]
- Möhrlein, R., van Dorresteijn, C., van Domselaar, I., Nollkaemper, A., de Ruijter, A., Volman, M., & Cornelissen, F. (2024). Ervaringsonderwijs voor de professionele vorming van juristen. Law and Method, 2024, Article D-23-00002. https://doi.org/10.5553/REM/.000084 [details]
- Nicoli, F., van der Duin, D., Beetsma, R., Bremer, B., Burgoon, B., Kuhn, T., Meijers, M. J., & de Ruijter, A. (2024). Closer during crises? European identity during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Journal of European Public Policy, 31(10), 3066-3092. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2024.2319346 [details]
- de Ruijter, A., Hervey, T., & Prainsack, B. (2024). Solidarity and trust in European Union health governance: three ways forward. Lancet Regional Health Europe, 46, Article 101047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2024.101047 [details]
2023
- Berro Pizzarossa, L., Hervey, T., & de Ruijter, A. (2023). Abortion law in Europe: The promise and pitfalls of human rights and transnational trade law in the face of criminalization with exceptions. In M. Ziegler (Ed.), Research Handbook on International Abortion Law (pp. 374-393). (Research Handbooks in Law and Society series). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781839108150.00031 [details]
- Brooks, E., de Ruijter, A., Greer, S. L., & Rozenblum, S. (2023). EU health policy in the aftermath of COVID-19: neofunctionalism and crisis-driven integration. Journal of European Public Policy, 30(4), 721-739. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2022.2141301 [details]
- Tjon Soei Len, L. K. L., & de Ruijter, A. (2023). Conceptualising the tortuous harms of sexist and racist hate speech. European Law Open, 2(1), 8-29. https://doi.org/10.1017/elo.2023.10 [details]
- de Ruijter, A., Greer, S., Brooks, E., Rozenblum, S., Rhinard, M. (Ed.), Nugent, N. (Ed.), & Paterson, W. E. (Ed.) (2023). The Health Policy Challenge: From Crisis to Union. In Crises and Challenges for the European Union (pp. 336-354). Bloomsbury Publishing.
2022
- Baute, S., & de Ruijter, A. (2022). EU health solidarity in times of crisis: Explaining public preferences for EU-risk pooling for medicines. Journal of European Public Policy, 29(8), 1183-1205. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2021.1936129 [details]
- Beetsma, R., Burgoon, B., Nicoli, F., de Ruijter, A., & Vandenbroucke, F. (2022). What kind of EU fiscal capacity? Evidence from a randomized survey experiment in five European countries in times of corona. Economic Policy, 37(111), 411-459. https://doi.org/10.1093/epolic/eiac007 [details]
- Beetsma, R., Burgoon, B., Nicoli, F., de Ruijter, A., & Vandenbroucke, F. (2022). What kind of EU fiscal capacity? Evidence from a randomized survey experiment in five European countries in times of corona. Economic Policy, 37(111), 411-459. https://doi.org/10.1093/epolic/eiac007
- Brooks, E., Rozenblum, S., Greer, S. L., & de Ruijter, A. (2022). COVID-19 and EU health policy. In M. Cini, & N. Pérez-Solórzano Borragán (Eds.), European Union Politics (7th ed., pp. 421-435). Oxford University Press. [details]
- de Ruijter, A., & Brooks, E. (2022). The European Health Union: Strengthening the EU’s Health Powers? Eurohealth, 28(3), 47-49.
2021
- Beetsma, R., Burgoon, B., Nicoli, F., de Ruijter, A., & Vandenbroucke, F. (2021). Public support for European cooperation in the procurement, stockpiling and distribution of medicines. European Journal of Public Health, 31(2), 253–258. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaa201 [details]
- Brooks, E., & de Ruijter, A. (2021). Towards more comprehensive health law and policy research. Health Economics, Policy and Law, 16(1), 104-110. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744133120000286 [details]
- Brooks, E., de Ruijter, A., & Greer, S. L. (2021). The European Union Confronts COVID-19: Another European Rescue of the Nation-State? In S. L. Greer, E. J. King, E. Massard da Fonseca, & A. Peralta-Santos (Eds.), Coronavirus Politics: The Comparative Politics and Policy of COVID-19 (pp. 235-248). University of Michigan Press. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.11927713, https://doi.org/10.1353/book.83273 [details]
- Greer, S. L., de Ruijter, A., & Brooks, E. (2021). The COVID-19 pandemic: Failing forward in public health. In M. Riddervold, J. Trondal, & A. Newsome (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of EU Crises (pp. 747-764). (Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51791-5_44 [details]
- Perehudoff, K., Durán, C., Demchenko, I., Mazzanti, V., Parwani, P., Suleman, F., & de Ruijter, A. (2021). Impact of the European Union on access to medicines in low- and middle-income countries: A scoping review. Lancet Regional Health Europe, 9, Article 100219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2021.100219 [details]
2020
- Brooks, E., de Ruijter, A., Greer, S., & Verhercke, B. (Ed.) (2020). Covid-19 and European Union health policy: from crisis to collective action. In Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2020 ETUI. https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/2021-01/04-Chapter2-Covid%E2%80%9119%20and%20European%20Union%20health%20policy.pdf
- Hervey, T., & de Ruijter, A. (2020). The Dynamic Potential of European Union Health Law. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 11(4), 726-735. https://doi.org/10.1017/err.2020.70 [details]
- Purnhagen, K. P., de Ruijter, A., Flear, M. L., Hervey, T. K., & Herwig, A. (2020). More Competences than You Knew? The Web of Health Competences for Union Action in Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 11(2), 297-306. https://doi.org/10.1017/err.2020.35 [details]
- de Ruijter, A. (2020). EU-gezondheidsrecht en -beleid na COVID-19. Tijdschrift voor Gezondheidsrecht, 44(5), 524-535. https://doi.org/10.5553/TvGR/016508742020044005006 [details]
- van Kolfschooten, H., & de Ruijter, A. (2020). COVID-19 and privacy in the European Union: A legal perspective on contact tracing. Contemporary Security Policy, 41(3), 478-491. https://doi.org/10.1080/13523260.2020.1771509 [details]
2019
- Brito Bastos, F., & de Ruijter, A. (2019). Break or bend in case of emergency? Rule of law and state of emergency in European public health administration. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 10(4), 610-634. https://doi.org/10.1017/err.2019.71 [details]
- Flear, M. L. (Guest ed.), & de Ruijter, A. (Guest ed.) (2019). Symposium on European Union Governance of Health Crisis and Disaster Management. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 10(4), 605-737. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-risk-regulation/issue/CF4814D3215C660BCC8AC661C2D32D59
- Flear, M. L., & de Ruijter, A. (2019). Guest Editorial to the Symposium on European Union Governance of Health Crisis and Disaster Management: Key Norms and Values, Concepts and Techniques. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 10(4), 605-609. https://doi.org/10.1017/err.2019.73 [details]
- de Ruijter, A. (2019). EU Health Law & Policy: The Expansion of EU Power in Public Health and Health Care. (Oxford Studies in European Law). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198788096.001.0001 [details]
2018
- de Ruijter, A. (2018). EU External Health Security Policy and Law. In S. Blockmans, & P. Koutrakos (Eds.), Research Handbook on the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (pp. 374-392). (Research Handbooks in European Law). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781785364082.00027 [details]
2017
- Dijkstra, H. (Guest ed.), & de Ruijter, A. (Guest ed.) (2017). Special Issue on the EU Public Health-Security Nexus. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 8(4), 612-722. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-risk-regulation/issue/5DFF6F88EC17CB3130E83349DE6F65D4
- Dijkstra, H., & de Ruijter, A. (2017). The Health-Security Nexus and the European Union: Toward a Research Agenda. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 8(4), 613-625. https://doi.org/10.1017/err.2017.34 [details]
- Weimer, M., & de Ruijter, A. (2017). Regulating Risks in the EU: The Co-production of Expert and Executive Power. In M. Weimer, & A. de Ruijter (Eds.), Regulating risks in the European Union: the co-production of expert and executive power (pp. 1-17). Hart Publishing. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509912650.ch-001 [details]
- de Ruijter, A. (2017). Mapping the institutional consolidation of EU human health expertise. Comparative European Politics, 15(3), 370-393. https://doi.org/10.1057/cep.2016.5 [details]
- de Ruijter, A. (2017). Mixing EU Security and Public Health Expertise in the Health Threats Decision. In M. Weimer, & A. de Ruijter (Eds.), Regulating risks in the European Union: The co-production of expert and executive power (pp. 101-120). Hart Publishing. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3104489, https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509912650.ch-006 [details]
- de Ruijter, A. (2017). The impediment of health laws’ values in the constitutional setting of the EU. In T. K. Hervey, C. A. Young, & L. E. Bishop (Eds.), Research Handbook in European Union Health Law and Policy (pp. 479-495). (Research Handbooks in European Law). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781785364723.00035 [details]
2016
- de Ruijter, A. (2016). European Integration in field of human health. Journal of European Integration, 38(7), 837-843. https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2016.1228333
2012
- de Ruijter, A., & Hervey, T. K. (2012). Healthcare and the Lisbon strategy. In P. Copeland, & D. Papadimitriou (Eds.), The EU's Lisbon strategy: evaluating success, understanding failure (pp. 130-148). (Palgrave studies in European Union politics). Palgrave Macmillan. [details]
2008
- de Ruijter, A. (2008). The Business of Health Care in the United States: What is Wrong with the Standard of Economic Efficiency? Loyola Journal of Public Interest Law, 10(1), 87-109. http://heinonline.org/HOL/Permalink?a=dXZhLm5s&u=http%3A%2F%2Fheinonline.org%2FHOL%2FPage%3Fpublic%3Dfalse%26handle%3Dhein.journals%2Floyjpubil10%26collection%3Djournals%26id%3D89 [details]
2025
- Schrauwen, A. A. M., & de Ruijter, A. (2025). EU legal pathways for addressing the health workforce crisis: Background paper for the European Parliament. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/ECTI_IDA(2025)780412
2024
2022
- de Ruijter, A., Greer, S., Rozenblum, S., Fahy, N., Brooks, E., Jarman, H., Wismar, M., & Palm, W. (2022). Everything you always wanted to know about European Union health policies but were afraid to ask. (3 ed.) European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/354182/9789289059022-eng.pdf?sequence=1
2020
- Beetsma, R., Burgoon, B., Nicoli, F., de Ruijter, A., & Vandenbroucke, F. (2020). After polarisation: Stable consensus on European mutual assistance is possible. Web publication or website, VoxEU. https://voxeu.org/article/stable-consensus-european-mutual-assistance-possible [details]
- Beetsma, R., Burgoon, B., Nicoli, F., de Ruijter, A., & Vandenbroucke, F. (2020). Centrale rol EU bij inkoop medische noodmiddelen noodzakelijk, en kan op steun rekenen. Web publication or website, Me Judice. https://www.mejudice.nl/artikelen/detail/centrale-rol-eu-bij-inkoop-medische-noodmiddelen-noodzakelijk-en-kan-op-steun-rekenen [details]
- Beetsma, R., Burgoon, B., Nicoli, F., de Ruijter, A., & Vandenbroucke, F. (2020). Centralisering van EU-beleid infectieziekten kan op steun rekenen. Economisch-Statistische Berichten, 105(4785), 228-229. https://esb.nu/esb/20059801/centralisering-van-eu-beleid-infectieziekten-kan-op-steun-rekenen [details]
- de Ruijter, A. (2020). What do we actually mean by a 'European Health Union'? Eurohealth, 26(3), 30-31. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/338951 [details]
- de Ruijter, A., Beetsma, R., Burgoon, B., Nicoli, F., & Vandenbroucke, F. (2020). EU solidarity in fighting COVID-19: State of play, obstacles, citizens’ attitudes, and ways forward. Web publication or website, VoxEU. https://voxeu.org/article/eu-solidarity-fighting-covid-19 [details]
- de Ruijter, A., Beetsma, R., Burgoon, B., Nicoli, F., & Vandenbroucke, F. (2020). Give the EU more power to fight epidemics. Web publication or website, POLITICO. https://www.politico.eu/article/coronavirus-eu-power-pandemic/ [details]
2015
- de Ruijter, A. (2015). Gelijke aanspraak op het recht op lichamelijke integriteit. Nederlands Juristenblad, 90(25), 1658-1659. Article 1191. http://deeplinking.kluwer.nl/?param=00D38514&cpid=WKNL-LTR-Nav2
2011
- de Ruijter, A. (2011). [Review of: A.J. Obermaier (2009) The end of territoriality? The impact of ECJ rulings on British, German and French social policy]. Journal of European Social Policy, 21(3), 278-279. https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928711401702 [details]
2009
- van Roemburg, E., & de Ruijter, A. (2009). It's the law! Feminisme aan de rechtenfaculteit. In M. de Boer, & M. Wijers (Eds.), Vrouw & recht: de beweging, de mensen, de issues (pp. 155-159). Pallas Publications. [details]
2024
- de Ruijter, A., & Brölmann, C. M. (2024). Opinie: De Wereld bereidt zich voor op een nieuwe pandemie. Maar Nederland niet. De Volkskrant. https://www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opinie/opinie-de-wereld-bereidt-zich-voor-op-een-nieuwe-pandemie-maar-niet-in-nederland~beac2654/
2020
- McKee, M., de Ruijter, A., & Flear, M. (2020). Brexit threatens UK’s ability to respond to a future pandemic. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/14/why-brexit-will-delay-uk-getting-vaccine-and-cost-more
- Vandenbroucke, F. I. G., Nicoli, F., de Ruijter, A., Burgoon, B. M., & Beetsma, R. M. W. J. (2020). Europese solidariteit is noodzakelijk en mogelijk. De Morgen, 23. https://www.demorgen.be/es-b15997ba
- de Ruijter, A., van Kolfschooten, H., & Perehudoff, K. (2020). De focus op het redden van zoveel mogelijk levens kan de sociale ongelijkheid in Nederland verergeren. NRC Handelsblad. https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/11/25/denk-bij-coronavaccin-aan-sociaal-kwetsbaren-a4021376
- van Kolfschooten, H. B., & de Ruijter, A. (2020). Denk aan rechten bij aanpak Coronavirus. NRC Handelsblad. https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/01/28/denk-aan-rechten-bij-aanpak-virus-a3988460
2018
- van Kolfschooten, H. B., & de Ruijter, A. (2018). De EU moet betaalbare medicijnen waarborgen. De Volkskrant. https://www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opinie/voor-auto-s-en-medicijnen-geldt-hetzelfde-de-markt-bepaalt-de-prijs-en-daar-moet-de-eu-wat-aan-doen~b4580a33/
2014
- de Ruijter, A. (2014). Making the same mistake all over again: Juncker’s reshuffling of public health portfolios. Web publication or website, BlogActiv. http://acelg.blogactiv.eu/2014/09/25/making-the-same-mistake-all-over-again-juncker%E2%80%99s-reshuffling-of-public-health-portfolios/
- de Ruijter, A., & Bartl, M. (2014). De beste wetenschap is autonoom en bewaart een kritische distantie. NRC.
- de Ruijter, A., & Tjon Soei Len, L. (2014). Mannen zijn zielig zonder zelfvertrouwen, daar weet Thierry Baudet alles van. De Volkskrant.
- de Ruijter, A., & van Leeuwen, A. (2014). Niet een quotum van vrouwen maar van mannen. NRC.
2012
- de Ruijter, A. (2012). Die toezegging van de SGP is niet genoeg. NRC, 15.
Prize / grant
- de Ruijter, A., Hazel III, J. & van Weert, J. (2025). ELSA Lab AI for Health Equity.
- de Ruijter, A. (2022). NIAS Fellowship.
- de Ruijter, A. (2022). Nederlandse Hoger Onderwijs Premie.
- de Ruijter, A. & Perehudoff, K. (2022). Horizon Europe grant for the END-VOC project (Ending Covid-19 Variants of Concern through Cohort Studies).
- de Ruijter, A. (2021). AI Health Decisionmaking - Research Priority Area.
- de Ruijter, A. (2020). Healthy Food Environment.
- de Ruijter, A. (2020). INDIGO | Horizon 2020.
- de Ruijter, A. (2019). Research Priority Area - Global Health.
- de Ruijter, A. (2019). NWA Matchmaking grant.
- de Ruijter, A. (2018). Amsterdam European Studies Grant.
- de Ruijter, A. (2017). Veni Award -Improving the EU constitutional order for responding to human health disasters.
- de Ruijter, A. (2007). Fulbright Scholarship to the US.
2020
- Nicoli, F., Burgoon, B., Beetsma, R., Vandenbroucke, F. & de Ruijter, A. (2020). Attitudes towards European reforms: Conjoint Experiments on a European Fiscal Capacity and Joint Pharmaceutical Procurement. Harvard Dataverse. https://doi.org/10.7910/dvn/4lvary
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Ancillary activities
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SKGZ
Voorzitter Geschillencommissie -
SKGZ
Voorzitter Geschillencommissie SKGZ -
Bureau Clara Wichmann
Algemeen bestuurslid
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SKGZ
Parwani, P., Perehudoff, K., & de Ruijter, A. (2025). Trust beyond borders: European external regulatory influence on access to medicines. The Journal of law, medicine & ethics, 53(3), 365-378.