Katja Pahkala profile picture
Katja
Pahkala
Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine (CAPC)
Professor, Head of Paavo Nurmi Centre

Contact

+358 40 578 6122
Kiinamyllynkatu 10
20520
Turku

Areas of expertise

Cardiovascular health
prevention
childhood
physical activity
diet
epidemiology
longitudinal studies

Biography

I have devoted my research career to examining early life determinants of cardiometabolic health with the ultimate aim to improve primordial prevention of cardiometabolic diseases.

Teaching

I have supervised 15 undergraduate studies and six doctoral studies. Currently I supervise six doctoral students and one undergraduate student.

Research

I am a long-standing senior researcher and the vice director of the Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine (CAPC), and a member of the executive committee of the Centre for Population Health Research. I am also the vice principal investigator of the globally unique atherosclerosis prevention trial, the STRIP study (Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project), which commenced in 1989 and has extensively studied the 1062 participants since age 7 months to 26 years with repeated assessment of diet, lifestyle and versatile cardiometabolic health markers. I am also an active member of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study, started in the late 1970´s. The study involves originally 3596 participants from different parts of Finland. As highlights of my career, in 2014 I received the Academy of Finland’s Postdoctoral Researcher grant, and in 2019 I was invited to receive A/Professorship in Preventive Medicine (tenure track), and I was also awarded the Academy of Finland’s Research Fellowship. In 2023, I achieved full-Professorship in Preventive Medicine. In 2024, I began as a Head of the Paavo Nurmi Centre, a centre of expertise in sports & exercise medicine.

Publications

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Abdominal adiposity and cardiometabolic risk factors in children and adolescents: a Mendelian randomization analysis (2019)

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Viitasalo A, Schnurr TM, Pitkänen N, Hollensted M, Nielsen TRH, Pahkala K, Atalay M, Lind MV, Heikkinen S, Frithioff-Bøjsøe C, Fonvig CE, Grarup N, Kähönen M, Carrasquilla GD, Larnkjaer A, Pedersen O, Michaelsen KF, Lakka TA, Holm JC, Lehtimäki T, Raitakari O, Hansen T, Kilpeläinen TO
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Variants in the fetal genome near pro-inflammatory cytokine genes on 2q13 associate with gestational duration (2019)

Nature Communications
Xueping Liu, Dorte Helenius, Line Skotte, Robin N. Beaumont, Matthias Wielscher, Frank Geller, Julius Juodakis, Anubha Mahajan, Jonathan P. Bradfield, Frederick T.J. Lin, Suzanne Vogelezang, Mariona Bustamante, Tarunveer S. Ahluwalia, Niina Pitkänen, Carol A. Wang, Jonas Bacelis, Maria C. Borges, Ge Zhang, Bruce A. Bedell, Robert M. Rossi, Kristin Skogstrand, Shouneng Peng, Wesley K. Thompson, Vivek Appadurai, Debbie A. Lawlor, Ilkka Kalliala, Christine Power, Mark I. McCarthy, Heather A. Boyd, Mary L. Marazita, Hakon Hakonarson, M. Geoffrey Hayes, Denise M. Scholtens, Fernando Rivadeneira, Vincent W.V. Jaddoe, Rebecca K. Vinding, Hans Bisgaard, Bridget A. Knight, Katja Pahkala, Olli Raitakari, Øyvind Helgeland, Stefan Johansson, Pål R. Njølstad, João Fadista, Andrew J. Schork, Ron Nudel, Daniel E. Miller, Xiaoting Chen, Matthew T. Weirauch, Preben Bo Mortensen, Anders D. Børglum, Merete Nordentoft, Ole Mors, Ke Hao, Kelli K. Ryckman, David M. Hougaard, Leah C. Kottyan, Craig E. Pennell, Leo-Pekka Lyytikainen, Klaus Bønnelykke, Martine Vrijheid, Janine F. Felix, William L. Lowe Jr, Struan F.A. Grant, Elina Hyppönen, Bo Jacobsson, Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin, Louis J. Muglia, Jeffrey C. Murray, Rachel M. Freathy, Thomas M. Werge, Mads Melbye, Alfonso Buil, Bjarke Feenstra
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

CVD risk factors and surrogate markers - Urban-rural differences (2019)

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health
Joel Nuotio, Lauri Vähämurto, Katja Pahkala, Costan G. Magnussen, Nina Hutri-Kähönen, Mika Kähönen, Tomi Laitinen, Leena Taittonen, Päivi Tossavainen,Terho Lehtimäki, Eero Jokinen, Jorma S.A. Viikari, Olli Raitakari, Markus Juonala
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Predicting overweight and obesity in young adulthood from childhood body-mass index: comparison of cutoffs derived from longitudinal and cross-sectional data (2019)

The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health
Kartiosuo N, Ramakrishnan R, Lemeshow S, Juonala M, Burns TL, Woo JG, Jr DR, Daniels SR, Venn A, Steinberger J, Urbina EM, Bazzano L, Sabin MA, Hu T, Prineas RJ, Sinaiko AR, Pahkala K, Raitakari O, Dwyer T, Dwyer T
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))