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.
- Association of physical activity in childhood and early adulthood with carotid artery elasticity 21 years later: the cardiovascular risk in Young Finns Study. (2014)
- Journal of the American Heart Association
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Association of thyrotropin with arterial pulse wave velocity in young adults: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (2014)
- Scandinavian Journal of Clinical and Laboratory Investigation
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Association of vitamin D status with arterial blood pressure and hypertension risk: a mendelian randomisation study (2014)
- Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Biomarkers and long-term labour market outcomes: the case of creatine (2014) Böckerman Petri, Bryson Alex, Viinikainen Jutta, Hakulinen Christian, Pulkki-Raback Laura, Raitakari Olli, Pehkonen Jaakko
(D4 Julkaistu kehittämis- tai tutkimusraportti tai -selvitys ) - Blood microRNA profile associates with the levels of serum lipids and metabolites associated with glucose metabolism and insulin resistance and pinpoints pathways underlying metabolic syndrome The cardiovascular risk in Young Finns Study (2014)
- Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Cardiovascular risk factors in 2011 and secular trends since 2007: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. (2014)
- Scandinavian Journal of Public Health
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Cardiovascular risk prediction in children and adolescents (2014)
- Clinical Biochemistry
(B1 Vertaisarvioimaton kirjoitus tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Carotid artery elasticity decreases during pregnancy - the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study (2014)
- BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Childhood and adult socio-economic position and social mobility as determinants of low back pain outcomes (2014)
- European Journal of Pain
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Chromosome X-Wide Association Study Identifies Loci for Fasting Insulin and Height and Evidence for Incomplete Dosage Compensation (2014)
- PLoS Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Defining the role of common variation in the genomic and biological architecture of adult human height (2014)
- Nature Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Depressive Symptoms are Associated with Lower Bone Mineral Density in Young Adults with High Job Strain. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. (2014)
- International Journal of Behavioral Medicine
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Determinants of exercise peak arterial blood pressure, circulatory power, and exercise cardiac power in a population based sample of Finnish male and female aged 30 to 47 years: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (2014)
- BMC Cardiovascular Disorders
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Distribution and medical impact of loss-of-function variants in the Finnish founder population. (2014)
- PLoS Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Does Bone Resorption Stimulate Periosteal Expansion? A Cross-Sectional Analysis of b-C-telopeptides of Type I Collagen ( CTX),Genetic Markers of the RANKL Pathway, and Periosteal Circumference as Measured by pQCT (2014)
- Journal of Bone and Mineral Research
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Exploring Causality between TV Viewing and Weight Change in Young and Middle-Aged Adults. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (2014)
- PLoS ONE
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Exposure to parental smoking in childhood or adolescence is associated with increased carotid intima-media thickness in young adults: evidence from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study and the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health Study (2014)
- European Heart Journal
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Five-Factor Personality Traits and Sleep: Evidence From Two Population-Based Cohort Studies (2014)
- Health Psychology
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - FTO genetic variants, dietary intake and body mass index: insights from 177,330 individuals. (2014)
- Human Molecular Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä ) - Gene-Age Interactions in Blood Pressure Regulation: A Large-Scale Investigation with the CHARGE, Global BPgen, and ICBP Consortia (2014)
- American Journal of Human Genetics
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )