Katja Pahkala
Professor, Head of Paavo Nurmi Centre
Centre for Population Health Research, Paavo Nurmi Centre katpah@utu.fi +358 40 578 6122 Kiinamyllynkatu 10 Turku |
Cardiovascular health, prevention, childhood, physical activity, diet, epidemiology, longitudinal studies
I have devoted my research career to examining early life determinants of cardiometabolic health with the ultimate aim to improve primordial prevention of cardiometabolic diseases.
I am a long-standing senior researcher and the vice director of the Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine (CAPC), and a member of the executive committee of the Centre for Population Health Research. I am also the vice principal investigator of the globally unique atherosclerosis prevention trial, the STRIP study (Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project), which commenced in 1989 and has extensively studied the 1062 participants since age 7 months to 26 years with repeated assessment of diet, lifestyle and versatile cardiometabolic health markers. I am also an active member of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study, started in the late 1970´s. The study involves originally 3596 participants from different parts of Finland. As highlights of my career, in 2014 I received the Academy of Finland’s Postdoctoral Researcher grant, and in 2019 I was invited to receive A/Professorship in Preventive Medicine (tenure track), and I was also awarded the Academy of Finland’s Research Fellowship. In 2023, I achieved full-Professorship in Preventive Medicine. In 2024, I began as a Head of the Paavo Nurmi Centre, a centre of expertise in sports & exercise medicine.
I have supervised 15 undergraduate studies and six doctoral studies. Currently I supervise six doctoral students and one undergraduate student.
- Exploring machine learning strategies for predicting cardiovascular disease risk factors from multi-omic data (2024)
- BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Exposure to parental smoking and cardiac structure and function in adulthood: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (2024)
- Scandinavian Journal of Public Health
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Hypothesis-driven mediation analysis for compositional data: an application to gut microbiome (2024)
- Biostatistics & Epidemiology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Intergenerational continuity of loneliness and potential mechanisms: Young Finns Multigenerational Study (2024)
- Scientific Reports
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Kansallisen väestötutkimuksen kasvu ylisukupolviseksi kohortiksi (2024)
- Sosiaalilääketieteellinen Aikakauslehti
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Lapsuuden ja nuoruuden liikuntaharrastuksella yhteys aikuisiän fyysiseen aktiivisuuteen (2024)
- Liikunta ja tiede
(D1 Article in a professional journal) - Longitudinal associations of participation in organized and unorganized sports in youth with physical activity in mid-adulthood : The Young Finns Study (2024)
- Journal of Sports Sciences
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Incidence and Remission and Their Predictors During 7 Years of Follow-up Among Finns (2024)
- Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Randomized 20-year infancy-onset dietary intervention, life-long cardiovascular risk factors and retinal microvasculature (2024)
- European Heart Journal
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Subclinical atherosclerosis in young adults predicting cardiovascular disease : The cardiovascular risk in young Finns study (2024)
- Atherosclerosis
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - The Influence of Dietary Counseling Over 20 Years on Tracking of Non-High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol from Infancy to Young Adulthood (2024)
- Journal of Pediatrics
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Trans-ancestral genome-wide association study of longitudinal pubertal height growth and shared heritability with adult health outcomes (2024)
- Genome Biology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - A Proposed Pediatric Clinical Cardiovascular Health Reference Standard (2023)
- American Journal of Preventive Medicine
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Association of Physical Activity with Metabolic Profile from Adolescence to Adulthood (2023)
- Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Associations of active commuting to school in childhood and physical activity in adulthood (2023)
- Scientific Reports
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Blood Pressure at Different Life Stages Over the Early Life Course and Intima-Media Thickness (2023)
- JAMA Pediatrics
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Dietary patterns from youth to adulthood and cognitive function in midlife: The cardiovascular risk in Young Finns Study (2023)
- Nutrition
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Liikunta (2023) Lastentaudit Tammelin Tuija, Pahkala Katja
(D2 Article in a professional compilation book) - Lipoprotein(a) in Youth and Prediction of Major Cardiovascular Outcomes in Adulthood (2023)
- Circulation
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Parenthood and changes in physical activity from early adulthood to mid-life among Finnish adults (2023)
- Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)