Vilhelmiina Parikka, MD, PhD has a clinical position at Turku University Hospital, where she works in the neonatal intensive care unit as an attending neonatologist. After her postdoctoral period in Boston Children’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School (2017–2019), she has established a research group focusing on the investigation of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Parikka’s research group works with both preclinical brain injury models and clinical study setups.

The main interest of Vilhelmiina Parikka’s research group is in pathophysiological mechanisms and treatment options for neonatal hypoxic-ischemic injury. The research project aims to provide deeper understanding of the pathological processes behind the brain injury, to identify tools for the early recognition of the injury and to develop new clinically relevant strategies for the treatment of this group of vulnerable infants. The research group has a special interest in the role of inflammation and endothelial injury in the pathophysiological process of the brain injury. The role of PET imaging scans as an early marker for metabolic changes and inflammation in a preclinical model of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is also actively studied.