Olli Raitakari
MD/PhD
olli.raitakari@utu.fi +358 29 450 2304 Kiinamyllynkatu 10 Turku ORCID-tunniste: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9365-3702 |
cardiovascular and metabolic diseases; risk factors; vascular epidemiology; genetic epidemiology; epidemiology; dietary intervention; cohort studies; follow-up studies
EDUCATION AND DEGREES
2001 Docent in Clinical Physiology
1997-1999 Postdoc training, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia
1997 Docent in Epidemiology
1996 Specialist in Clinical Physiology
1995 Doctorate, PhD
1989 Licentiate in Medicine, MD
CURRENT POSITIONS
2017- Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine, Director of the Research Centre of Applied and
Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku, Finland
PAST POSITIONS
2012-2016 Academy Professor, University of Turku
2007-2016 Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine (part time), University of Turku
2007-2008 Senior Scientist Grant, Academy of Finland
2004-2016 Chief Physician, Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Turku
University Hospital (leave of absence 2012-2016)
2002-2004 Consultant in Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Turku University Hospital
2002 (1 mo) Head of Nuclear Medicine Department, Turku University Hospital
2000-2003 (3 mo) Head of Clinical Physiology Department, Turku University Hospital
2000-2005 Senior Fellow Post, Academy of Finland
1998-2000 Postdoctoral Research Post, Academy of Finland
1996-1997 Consultant in Clinical Physiology, Turku University Hospital
1991-1996 Positions as Resident in Clinical Chemistry, Nuclear Medicine, and Clinical
Physiology, Turku University Hospital
1988-1990 Positions as General Practioner and Resident in Internal Medicine or Surgery
Evidence suggest that many non-communicable disease outcomes have roots in childhood and may even stem of adverse ancestral exposures. Improved knowledge how various ancestral and early-life exposures lead to adult disease outcomes is essential in developing better preventive practices and policies that lead to improved public health. My mission has been to contribute to this knowledge-base by working in epidemiologic cohort studies with follow-up from childhood to adulthood. I am the Principal Investigator of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (YFS), the largest study in Europe with a follow-up of cardiovascular risk factors from childhood to adulthood. I am also the Director of the STRIP Study, which is a leading long-term pediatric dietary intervention study testing the hypothesis that modifying the fat quality diet will have beneficial effects on cardiovascular risk early in life. During the past years, I have organized several field studies in these cohorts, and introduced novel technologies, such as imaging studies, genetic epidemiology methods and metabolomics approaches in these unique population resources. Our research has contributed to the understanding of pre-clinical development of atherosclerosis in children and young adults, including the effects of diet, life-style, metabolic risk factors, psychological traits and psychosocial factors, inflammation, hormones and genetic markers. For example, by applying non-invasive imaging methods in the Young Finns Study, we have demonstrated that exposure to adverse lipids, elevated blood pressure and obesity in childhood is related to atherosclerosis development in adulthood (JAMA 2003). Subsequent work stemmed from this initial observation has led to numerous original publications that have shown in detail how exposure to a large range of aetiogenic factors early in life contribute to the development of cardio-metabolic outcomes in adulthood. For example, by pooling international i3C Consortium data, we have demonstrated that overweight or obese children who became non-obese by adulthood had similar risks of many cardio-metabolic adult outcomes as individuals who were never obese (NEJM 2011). Thus, the results of our studies have clearly demonstrated that individual’s exposure to various stressors in early life is contributing to his/her adult phenotype and disease risk. The results have had significant impact on preventive practices. As a concrete demonstration of the international recognition and impact of my team’s work, many of our studies are widely cited in all updated paediatric guidelines on cardiovascular prevention both in Europe and in US.
- Reproductive history and blood cell DNA methylation later in life: the Young Finns Study (2021)
- Clinical Epigenetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Response by Hakala et al to Letter Regarding Article, "Cardiovascular Risk Factor Trajectories Since Childhood and Cognitive Performance in Midlife: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study" (2021)
- Circulation
(B1 Vertaisarvioimaton kirjoitus tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Risky emotional family environment in childhood and depression-related cytokines in adulthood: The protective role of compassion (2021)
- Developmental Psychobiology
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption May Modify Associations Between Genetic Variants in the CHREBP (Carbohydrate Responsive Element Binding Protein) Locus and HDL-C (High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol) and Triglyceride Concentrations (2021)
- Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Systematic evaluation of the association between hemoglobin levels and metabolic profile implicates beneficial effects of hypoxia (2021)
- Science Advances
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - The associations of oxidized lipoprotein lipids with lipoprotein subclass particle concentrations and their lipid compositions. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (2021)
- Free Radical Biology and Medicine
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - The power of genetic diversity in genome-wide association studies of lipids (2021)
- Nature
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - The Role of Inflammatory Cytokines as Intermediates in the Pathway from Increased Adiposity to Disease (2021)
- Obesity
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - The Timing and Sequence of Cardiovascular Health Decline (2021)
- American Journal of Preventive Medicine
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Three genetic-environmental networks for human personality (2021)
- Molecular Psychiatry
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Toisiolaki hankaloittaa terveystutkimuksia eikä anna lisäarvoa tietoturvaan (2021)
- Lääkärilehti
(D1 Artikkeli ammattilehdessä) - Tracking and Changes in Daily Step Counts among Finnish Adults (2021)
- Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Uncovering the shared lipidomic markers of subclinical osteoporosis-atherosclerosis comorbidity: The Young Finns Study (2021)
- BONE
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Variants associated with HHIP expression have sexdifferential effects on lung function (2021)
- Wellcome Open Research
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Within-visit SBP variability from childhood to adulthood and markers of cardiovascular end-organ damage in mid-life (2021)
- Journal of Hypertension
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Work participation and physicality of work in young adulthood and the development of unhealthy lifestyle habits and obesity later in life: A prospective cohort study (2021)
- Occupational and Environmental Medicine
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Worldwide trends in hypertension prevalence and progress in treatment and control from 1990 to 2019: a pooled analysis of 1201 population-representative studies with 104 million participants (2021)
- Lancet
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - A genome-wide cross-phenotype meta-analysis of the association of blood pressure with migraine (2020)
- Nature Communications
Consortium; The 23andMe Research Team, Tobias Kurth, Daniel I. Chasman
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Age-Specific Estimates and Comparisons of Youth Tri-Ponderal Mass Index and Body Mass Index in Predicting Adult Obesity-Related Outcomes (2020)
- Journal of Pediatrics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - A network approach to the analysis of psychosocial risk factors and their association with health (2020)
- Journal of Health Psychology
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )