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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Tracking and Changes in Daily Step Counts among Finnish Adults (2021)

Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
Yang Xiaolin, Kulmala Janne, Hakonen Harto, Hirvensalo Mirja, Rovio Suvi P, Pahkala Katja, Kukko Tuomas, Hutri-Kähönen Nina, Raitakari OlliT, Tammelin Tuija H
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

The power of genetic diversity in genome-wide association studies of lipids (2021)

Nature
Graham SE, Clarke SL, Wu KH, Kanoni S, Zajac GJM, Ramdas S, Surakka I, Ntalla I, Vedantam S, Winkler TW, Locke AE, Marouli E, Hwang MY, Han S, Narita A, Choudhury A, Bentley AR, Ekoru K, Verma A, Trivedi B, Martin HC, Hunt KA, Hui Q, Klarin D, Zhu X, Thorleifsson G, Helgadottir A, Gudbjartsson DF, Holm H, Olafsson I, Akiyama M, Sakaue S, Terao C, Kanai M, Zhou W, Brumpton BM, Rasheed H, Ruotsalainen SE, Havulinna AS, Veturi Y, Feng Q, Rosenthal EA, Lingren T, Pacheco JA, Pendergrass SA, Haessler J, Giulianini F, Bradford Y, Miller JE, Campbell A, Lin K, Millwood IY, Hindy G, Rasheed A, Faul JD, Zhao W, Weir DR, Turman C, Huang H, Graff M, Mahajan A, Brown MR, Zhang W, Yu K, Schmidt EM, Pandit A, Gustafsson S, Yin X, Luan J, Zhao JH, Matsuda F, Jang HM, Yoon K, Medina-Gomez C, Pitsillides A, Hottenga JJ, Willemsen G, Wood AR, Ji Y, Gao Z, Haworth S, Mitchell RE, Chai JF, Aadahl M, Yao J, Manichaikul A, Warren HR, Ramirez J, Bork-Jensen J, Kårhus LL, Goel A, Sabater-Lleal M, Noordam R, Sidore C, Fiorillo E, McDaid AF, Marques-Vidal P, Wielscher M, Trompet S, Sattar N, Møllehave LT, Thuesen BH, Munz M, Zeng L, Huang J, Yang B, Poveda A, Kurbasic A, Lamina C, Forer L, Scholz M, Galesloot TE, Bradfield JP, Daw EW, Zmuda JM, Mitchell JS, Fuchsberger C, Christensen H, Brody JA, Feitosa MF, Wojczynski MK, Preuss M, Mangino M, Christofidou P, Verweij N, Benjamins JW, Engmann J, Kember RL, Slieker RC, Lo KS, Zilhao NR, Le P, Kleber ME, Delgado GE, Huo S, Ikeda DD, Iha H, Yang J, Liu J, Leonard HL, Marten J, Schmidt B, Arendt M, Smyth LJ, Cañadas-Garre M, Wang C, Nakatochi M, Wong A, Hutri-Kähönen N, Sim X, Xia R, Huerta-Chagoya A, Fernandez-Lopez JC, Lyssenko V, Ahmed M, Jackson AU, Irvin MR, Oldmeadow C, Kim HN, Ryu S, Timmers PRHJ, Arbeeva L, Dorajoo R, Lange LA, Chai X, Prasad G, Lorés-Motta L, Pauper M, Long J, Li X, Theusch E, Takeuchi F, Spracklen CN, Loukola A, Bollepalli S, Warner SC, Wang YX, Wei WB, Nutile T, Ruggiero D, Sung YJ, Hung YJ, Chen S, Liu F, Yang J, Kentistou KA, Gorski M, Brumat M, Meidtner K, Bielak LF, Smith JA, Hebbar P, Farmaki AE, Hofer E, Lin M, Xue C, Zhang J, Concas MP, Vaccargiu S, van der Most PJ, Pitkänen N, Cade BE, Lee J, van der Laan SW, Chitrala KN, Weiss S, Zimmermann ME, Lee JY, Choi HS, Nethander M, Freitag-Wolf S, Southam L, Rayner NW, Wang CA, Lin SY, Wang JS, Couture C, Lyytikäinen LP, Nikus K, Cuellar-Partida G, Vestergaard H, Hildalgo B, Giannakopoulou O, Cai Q, Obura MO, van Setten J, Li X, Schwander K, Terzikhan N, Shin JH, Jackson RD, Reiner AP, Martin LW, Chen Z, Li L, Highland HM, Young KL, Kawaguchi T, Thiery J, Bis JC, Nadkarni GN, Launer LJ, Li H, Nalls MA, Raitakari OT, Ichihara S, Wild SH, Nelson CP, Campbell H, Jäger S, Nabika T, Al-Mulla F, Niinikoski H, Braund PS, Kolcic I, Kovacs P, Giardoglou T, Katsuya T, Bhatti KF, de Kleijn D, de Borst GJ, Kim EK, Adams HHH, Ikram MA, Zhu X, Asselbergs FW, Kraaijeveld AO, Beulens JWJ, Shu XO, Rallidis LS, Pedersen O, Hansen T, Mitchell P, Hewitt AW, Kähönen M, Pérusse L, Bouchard C, Tönjes A, Chen YI, Pennell CE, Mori TA, Lieb W, Franke A, Ohlsson C, Mellström D, Cho YS, Lee H, Yuan JM, Koh WP, Rhee SY, Woo JT, Heid IM, Stark KJ, Völzke H, Homuth G, Evans MK, Zonderman AB, Polasek O, Pasterkamp G, Hoefer IE, Redline S, Pahkala K, Oldehinkel AJ, Snieder H, Biino G, Schmidt R, Schmidt H, Chen YE, Bandinelli S, Dedoussis G, Thanaraj TA, Kardia SLR, Kato N, Schulze MB, Girotto G, Jung B, Böger CA, Joshi PK, Bennett DA, De Jager PL, Lu X, Mamakou V, Brown M, Caulfield MJ, Munroe PB, Guo X, Ciullo M, Jonas JB, Samani NJ, Kaprio J, Pajukanta P, Adair LS, Bechayda SA, de Silva HJ, Wickremasinghe AR, Krauss RM, Wu JY, Zheng W, den Hollander AI, Bharadwaj D, Correa A, Wilson JG, Lind L, Heng CK, Nelson AE, Golightly YM, Wilson JF, Penninx B, Kim HL, Attia J, Scott RJ, Rao DC, Arnett DK, Walker M, Koistinen HA, Chandak GR, Yajnik CS, Mercader JM, Tusié-Luna T, Aguilar-Salinas CA, Villalpando CG, Orozco L, Fornage M, Tai ES, van Dam RM, Lehtimäki T, Chaturvedi N, Yokota M, Liu J, Reilly DF, McKnight AJ, Kee F, Jöckel KH, McCarthy MI, Palmer CNA, Vitart V, Hayward C, Simonsick E, van Duijn CM, Lu F, Qu J, Hishigaki H, Lin X, März W, Parra EJ, Cruz M, Gudnason V, Tardif JC, Lettre G, 't Hart LM, Elders PJM, Damrauer SM, Kumari M, Kivimaki M, van der Harst P, Spector TD, Loos RJF, Province MA, Psaty BM, Brandslund I, Pramstaller PP, Christensen K, Ripatti S, Widén E, Hakonarson H, Grant SFA, Kiemeney LALM, de Graaf J, Loeffler M, Kronenberg F, Gu D, Erdmann J, Schunkert H, Franks PW, Linneberg A, Jukema JW, Khera AV, Männikkö M, Jarvelin MR, Kutalik Z, Cucca F, Mook-Kanamori DO, van Dijk KW, Watkins H, Strachan DP, Grarup N, Sever P, Poulter N, Rotter JI, Dantoft TM, Karpe F, Neville MJ, Timpson NJ, Cheng CY, Wong TY, Khor CC, Sabanayagam C, Peters A, Gieger C, Hattersley AT, Pedersen NL, Magnusson PKE, Boomsma DI, de Geus EJC, Cupples LA, van Meurs JBJ, Ghanbari M, Gordon-Larsen P, Huang W, Kim YJ, Tabara Y, Wareham NJ, Langenberg C, Zeggini E, Kuusisto J, Laakso M, Ingelsson E, Abecasis G, Chambers JC, Kooner JS, de Vries PS, Morrison AC, North KE, Daviglus M, Kraft P, Martin NG, Whitfield JB, Abbas S, Saleheen D, Walters RG, Holmes MV, Black C, Smith BH, Justice AE, Baras A, Buring JE, Ridker PM, Chasman DI, Kooperberg C, Wei WQ, Jarvik GP, Namjou B, Hayes MG, Ritchie MD, Jousilahti P, Salomaa V, Hveem K, Åsvold BO, Kubo M, Kamatani Y, Okada Y, Murakami Y, Thorsteinsdottir U, Stefansson K, Ho YL, Lynch JA, Rader DJ, Tsao PS, Chang KM, Cho K, O'Donnell CJ, Gaziano JM, Wilson P, Rotimi CN, Hazelhurst S, Ramsay M, Trembath RC, van Heel DA, Tamiya G, Yamamoto M, Kim BJ, Mohlke KL, Frayling TM, Hirschhorn JN, Kathiresan S; VA Million Veteran Program; Global Lipids Genetics Consortium, Boehnke M, Natarajan P, Peloso GM, Brown CD, Morris AP, Assimes TL, Deloukas P, Sun YV, Willer CJ
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Influential Periods in Longitudinal Clinical Cardiovascular Health Scores (2021)

American Journal of Epidemiology
Krefman Amy E, Labarthe Darwin, Greenland Philip, Pool Lindsay, Aguayo Liliana, Juonala Markus, Kähönen Mika, Lehtimäki Terho, Day R Sue, Bazzano Lydia, Muggeo Vito M R, Van Horn Linda, Liu Lei, Webber Larry S, Pahkala Katja, Laitinen Tomi T, Raitakari Olli, Lloyd-Jones Donald M, Allen Norrina B
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))