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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Genome-wide association analysis identifies three new susceptibility loci for childhood body mass index (2016)

Human Molecular Genetics
Felix JF, Bradfield JP, Monnereau C, van der Valk RJP, Stergiakouli E, Chesi A, Gaillard R, Feenstra B, Thiering E, Kreiner-Moller E, Mahajan A, Pitkanen N, Joro R, Cavadino A, Huikari V, Franks S, Groen-Blokhuis MM, Cousminer DL, Marsh JA, Lehtimaki T, Curtin JA, Vioque J, Ahluwalia TS, Myhre R, Price TS, Vilor-Tejedor N, Yengo L, Grarup N, Ntalla I, Ang W, Atalay M, Bisgaard H, Blakemore AI, Bonnefond A, Carstensen L, Eriksson J, Flexeder C, Franke L, Geller F, Geserick M, Hartikainen AL, Haworth CMA, Hirschhorn JN, Hofman A, Holm JC, Horikoshi M, Hottenga JJ, Huang JY, Kadarmideen HN, Kahonen M, Kiess W, Lakka HM, Lakka TA, Lewin AM, Liang L, Lyytikainen LP, Ma BS, Magnus P, McCormack SE, McMahon G, Mentch FD, Middeldorp CM, Murray CS, Pahkala K, Pers TH, Pfaffle R, Postma DS, Power C, Simpson A, Sengpiel V, Tiesler CMT, Torrent M, Uitterlinden AG, van Meurs JB, Vinding R, Waage J, Wardle J, Zeggini E, Zemel BS, Dedoussis GV, Pedersen O, Froguel P, Sunyer J, Plomin R, Jacobsson B, Hansen T, Gonzalez JR, Custovic A, Raitakari OT, Pennell CE, Widen E, Boomsma DI, Koppelman GH, Sebert S, Jarvelin MR, Hypponen E, McCarthy MI, Lindi V, Harri N, Korner A, Bonnelykke K, Heinrich J, Melbye M, Rivadeneira F, Hakonarson H, Ring SM, Smith GD, Sorensen TIA, Timpson NJ, Grant SFA, Jaddoe VWV
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Genome-wide associations for birth weight and correlations with adult disease (2016)

Nature
Horikoshi M, Beaumont RN, Day FR, Warrington NM, Kooijman MN, Fernandez-Tajes J, Feenstra B, van Zuydam NR, Gaulton KJ, Grarup N, Bradfield JP, Strachan DP, Li-Gao R, Ahluwalia TS, Kreiner E, Rueedi R, Lyytikainen LP, Cousminer DL, Wu Y, Thiering E, Wang CA, Have CT, Hottenga JJ, Vilor-Tejedor N, Joshi PK, Boh ETH, Ntalla I, Pitkanen N, Mahajan A, van Leeuwen EM, Joro R, Lagou V, Nodzenski M, Diver LA, Zondervan KT, Bustamante M, Marques-Vidal P, Mercader JM, Bennett AJ, Rahmioglu N, Nyholt DR, Ma RCW, Tam CHT, Tam WH, Ganesh SK, van Rooij FJA, Jones SE, Loh PR, Ruth KS, Tuke MA, Tyrrell J, Wood AR, Yaghootkar H, Scholtens DM, Paternoster L, Prokopenko I, Kovacs P, Atalay M, Willems SM, Panoutsopoulou K, Wang X, Carstensen L, Geller F, Schraut KE, Murcia M, van Beijsterveldt CEM, Willemsen G, Appel EVR, Fonvig CE, Trier C, Tiesler CMT, Standl M, Kutalik Z, Bonas-Guarch S, Hougaard DM, Sanchez F, Torrents D, Waage J, Hollegaard MV, de Haan HG, Rosendaal FR, Medina-Gomez C, Ring SM, Hemani G, McMahon G, Robertson NR, Groves CJ, Langenberg C, Luan J, Scott RA, Zhao JH, Mentch FD, MacKenzie SM, Reynolds RM, Lowe WL, Tonjes A, Stumvoll M, Lindi V, Lakka TA, van Duijn CM, Kiess W, Korner A, Sorensen TIA, Niinikoski H, Pahkala K, Raitakari OT, Zeggini E, Dedoussis GV, Teo YY, Saw SM, Melbye M, Campbell H, Wilson JF, Vrijheid M, de Geus EJCN, Boomsma DI, Kadarmideen HN, Holm JC, Hansen T, Sebert S, Hattersley AT, Beilin LJ, Newnham JP, Pennell CE, Heinrich J, Adair LS, Borja JB, Mohlke KL, Eriksson JG, Widen E, Kahonen M, Viikari JS, Lehtimaki T, Vollenweider P, Bonnelykke K, Bisgaard H, Mook-Kanamori DO, Hofman A, Rivadeneira F, Uitterlinden AG, Pisinger C, Pedersen O, Power C, Hypponen E, Wareham NJ, Hakonarson H, Davies E, Walker BR, Jaddoe VWV, Jarvelin MR, Grant SFA, Vaag AA, Lawlor DA, Frayling TM, Smith GD, Morris AP, Ong KK, Felix JF, Timpson NJ, Perry JRB, Evans DM, McCarthy MI, Freathy RM
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))