Dr. Vermeulen received his basic medical degree from the Brussels Free University, in Brussels, Belgium, in 1964 and completed general surgery training at Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1969. Dr. Vermeulen was a surgeon specialist at Apia General Hospital in Western Samoa and completed a Master of Community Health in the United Kingdom. He then served as an epidemiologist, chief of the division of public health, and director general of health at Western Samoa. He was then the executive director at Samoa Sleep Clinic and the executive director for METI Healthy Living Clinic promoting whole food, plant-based nutrition. In March 2020, he passed the qualifying exam and became a diplomate of the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine.