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.
- Genome-wide association analysis identifies three new susceptibility loci for childhood body mass index (2016)
- Human Molecular Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Genome-wide associations for birth weight and correlations with adult disease (2016)
- Nature
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment (2016)
- Nature
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Genome-wide association study of copy number variation with lung function identifies a novel signal of association near BANP for forced vital capacity (2016)
- BMC Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Genome-Wide Meta-Analysis of Cotinine Levels in Cigarette Smokers Identifies Locus at 4q13.2 (2016)
- Scientific Reports
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Genome-Wide Meta-Analysis of Sciatica in Finnish Population (2016)
- PLoS ONE
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Genome-wide meta-analysis uncovers novel loci influencing circulating leptin levels (2016)
- Nature Communications
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Genome-wide study for circulating metabolites identifies 62 loci and reveals novel systemic effects of LPA (2016)
- Nature Communications
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - High perceived social support protects against the intergenerational transmission of obesity: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (2016)
- Preventive Medicine
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Integrative approaches for large-scale transcriptome-wide association studies (2016)
- Nature Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - International Genome-Wide Association Study Consortium Identifies Novel Loci Associated With Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents (2016)
- Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Is alexithymia associated with metabolic syndrome? A study in a healthy adult population (2016)
- Psychiatry Research
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Job Demands and Job Control as Predictors of Depressive Symptoms: Moderating Effects of Negative Childhood Socioemotional Experiences (2016)
- Stress and Health
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - KLB is associated with alcohol drinking, and its gene product β-Klotho is necessary for FGF21 regulation of alcohol preference (2016)
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Life-course risk factor levels and coronary artery calcification. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (2016)
- International Journal of Cardiology
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Longitudinal study of circulating oxidized LDL and HDL and fatty liver: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (2016)
- Free Radical Research
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Meta-analysis of 375,000 individuals identifies 38 susceptibility loci for migraine (2016)
- Nature Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Meta-analysis of 49 549 individuals imputed with the 1000 Genomes Project reveals an exonic damaging variant in ANGPTL4 determining fasting TG levels (2016)
- Journal of Medical Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Meta-analysis of gene-environment-wide association scans accounting for education level identifies additional loci for refractive error (2016)
- Nature Communications
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Meta-analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies for Extraversion: Findings from the Genetics of Personality Consortium (2016)
- Behavior Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )