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.
- IMI - Myopia Genetics Report (2019)
- Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Increased High-Density Lipoprotein Levels Associated with Age-Related Macular Degeneration Evidence from the EYE-RISK and European Eye Epidemiology Consortia (2019)
- Ophthalmology: Journal of The American Academy of Ophthalmology
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - In Memoriam for Gerald Berenson (2019)
- Hypertension
(B1 Vertaisarvioimaton kirjoitus tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Is It Good To Be Good? Dispositional Compassion and Health Behaviors (2019)
- Annals of Behavioral Medicine
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Lipoprotein signatures of cholesteryl ester transfer protein and HMG-CoA reductase inhibition (2019)
- PLoS Biology
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Longitudinal analysis of risk of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) in adulthood (2019)
- Liver International
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Longitudinal effect of 20-year infancy-onset dietary intervention on food consumption and nutrient intake: the randomized controlled STRIP study (2019)
- European Journal of Clinical Nutrition
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Long-term and recent trends in hypertension awareness, treatment, and control in 12 high-income countries: an analysis of 123 nationally representative surveys (2019)
- Lancet
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Long-Term Burden of Increased Body Mass Index from Childhood on Adult Dyslipidemia: The i3C Consortium Study (2019)
- Journal of Clinical Medicine
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Low-saturated-fat and low-cholesterol diet does not alter pubertal development and hormonal status in adolescents (2019)
- Acta Paediatrica
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Maternal and fetal genetic effects on birth weight and their relevance to cardio-metabolic risk factors (2019)
- Nature Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Mendelian randomization integrating GWAS and eQTL data reveals genetic determinants of complex and clinical traits (2019)
- Nature Communications
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Migraine polygenic risk score associates with efficacy of migraine-specific drugs (2019)
- Neurology-Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Multiancestry Genome-Wide Association Study of Lipid Levels Incorporating Gene-Alcohol Interactions (2019)
- American Journal of Epidemiology
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Multi-ancestry genome-wide gene-smoking interaction study of 387,272 individuals identifies new loci associated with serum lipids (2019)
- Nature Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Multi-ancestry sleep-by-SNP interaction analysis in 126,926 individuals reveals lipid loci stratified by sleep duration (2019)
- Nature Communications
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Multi-ancestry study of blood lipid levels identifies four loci interacting with physical activity (2019)
- Nature Communications
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Multivariate Genome-wide Association Analysis of a Cytokine Network Reveals Variants with Widespread Immune, Haematological, and Cardiometabolic Pleiotropy (2019)
- American Journal of Human Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Natural History of Atherosclerosis and Abdominal Aortic Intima-Media Thickness: Rationale, Evidence, and Best Practice for Detection of Atherosclerosis in the Young (2019)
- Journal of Clinical Medicine
(A2 Vertaisarvioitu katsausartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä) - New alcohol-related genes suggest shared genetic mechanisms with neuropsychiatric disorders (2019)
- Nature Human Behaviour
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )