Laura Toivonen, MD, MSc, PhD, is an Academy of Finland Clinical Researcher and pediatrician at the Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at Turku University Hospital and University of Turku. She received her MD and PhD from University of Turku and MSc in Epidemiology (Clinical Epidemiology) degree from Harvard University. She completed her residency in pediatrics at Turku University Hospital. She completed her postdoctoral research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston (2017-2020).

Dr. Toivonen is an active clinician-scientist and works currently in the Finnish prospective birth-cohort study, the STEPS Study. The main focus of her research is to investigate early-life risk factors for respiratory infections, allergies and asthma. The current projects focus especially on respiratory and fecal microbiome and metabolome and the risk of respiratory infections and development of asthma. The aim is to improve public health through clinical and translational research projects in pediatrics.

Ten most important publications:

van Meel ER, Mensink-Bout SM, den Dekker HT,..., Toivonen L, Uphoff  E, Usemann J, Vafeidi M,Wright J, de Jongste  JC, Jaddoe VWV, Duijits L. Early-life respiratory tract infections and the risk of school-age lower lung function and asthma: a meta-analysis of 150,000 European children. Eur Respir J. 2022, In press. 

Toivonen L, Schuez-Havupalo L, Karppinen S, et al. Antibiotic treatments during infancy, changes in nasal microbiota, and asthma development: Population-based cohort study. Clin Infect Dis. 2021;72(9):1546-54. 

Raita Y*, Toivonen L*, Schuez-Havupalo L, Karppinen S, Waris M, Hoffman K, Camargo CA Jr., Peltola V, Hasegawa K. Maturation of nasal microbiota and antibiotic exposures during early childhood: Population-based cohort study. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2021;27(2):283.e1-283.e7. *First authors

Toivonen L, Karppinen S, Schuez-Havupalo L, Waris M, He Q, Hoffman KL, Petrosino JF, Dumas O, Camargo CA Jr., Hasegawa K, Peltola V. Longitudinal changes in early nasal microbiota and the risk of childhood asthma. Pediatrics.2020;146(4):e20200421

Toivonen L, Karppinen S, Schuez-Havupalo L, Teros-Jaakkola T, Mertsola J, Waris M, Peltola V. Respiratory syncytial virus infections in children 0-24 months of age in the community. J Infect. 2020;80(1):69-75. 

Toivonen L, Camargo CA Jr., Gern JE, Bochkov YA, Mansbach JM, Piedra PA, Hasegawa K. Association between rhinovirus species and nasopharyngeal microbiota in infants with severe bronchiolitis. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2019;143(5):1925-1928.e7.

Toivonen L, Forsström V, Waris M, Peltola V. Acute respiratory infections in early childhood and risk of asthma at 7 years of age. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2019;143:407-410.e6.

Toivonen L, Hasegawa, K, Waris M, Ajami NJ, Petrosino JF, Camargo CA Jr., Peltola V. Early nasal microbiota and acute respiratory infections during the first years of life. Thorax. 2019;74(6):592-599.

Toivonen L, Hasegawa K, Ajami NJ, Celedón JC, Mansbach JM, Petrosino JF, Camargo CA Jr. Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D, nasopharyngeal microbiota, and bronchiolitis severity. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2018;29(8):877-880. 

Toivonen L, Schuez-Havupalo L, Karppinen S, Teros-Jaakkola T, Rulli M, Mertsola J, Waris M, and Peltola V. Rhinovirus infections in the first 2 years of life. Pediatrics. 2016;138:e20161309.