Olli Raitakari profile picture
Olli
Raitakari
Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine (CAPC)
InFLAMES Flagship
MD/PhD

Contact

+358 29 450 2304
Kiinamyllynkatu 10
20520
Turku

Areas of expertise

cardiovascular and metabolic diseases
risk factors
vascular epidemiology
genetic epidemiology
epidemiology
dietary intervention
cohort studies
follow-up studies

Biography

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


Research

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.

Publications

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A Large-Scale Multi-ancestry Genome-wide Study Accounting for Smoking Behavior Identifies Multiple Significant Loci for Blood Pressure (2018)

American Journal of Human Genetics
Sung YJ, Winkler TW, de Las Fuentes L, Bentley AR, Brown MR, Kraja AT, Schwander K, Ntalla I, Guo XQ, Franceschini N, Lu YC, Cheng CY, Sim XL, Vojinovic D, Marten J, Musani SK, Li CW, Feitosa MF, Kilpeläinen TO, Richard MA, Noordam R, Aslibekyan S, Aschard H, Bartz TM, Dorajoo R, Liu YM, Manning AK, Rankinen T, Smith AV, Tajuddin SM, Tayo BO, Warren HR, Zhao W, Zhou YH, Matoba N, Sofer T, Alver M, Amini M, Boissel M, Chai JF, Chen X, Divers J, Gandin I, Gao C, Giulianini F, Goel A, Harris SE, Hartwig FP, Horimoto ARVR, Hsu FC, Jackson AU, Kahonen M, Kasturiratne A, Kuhnel B, Leander K, Lee WJ, Lin KH, Luan JA, McKenzie CA, He MA, Nelson CP, Rauramaa R, Schupf N, Scott RA, Sheu WHH, Stancakova A, Takeuchi F, van der Most PJ, Varga TV, Wang HM, Wang YJ, Ware EB, Weiss S, Wen WQ, Yanek LR, Zhang WH, Zhao JH, Afaq S, Alfred T, Amin N, Arking D, Aung T, Barr RG, Bielak LF, Boerwinkle E, Bottinger EP, Braund PS, Brody JA, Broeckel U, Cabrera CP, Cade B, Yu CZ, Campbell A, Canouil M, Chakravarti A, Chauhan G, Christensen K, Cocca M, Collins FS, Connell JM, de Mutsert R, de Silva HJ, Debette S, Dorr M, Duan Q, Eaton CB, Ehret G, Evangelou E, Faul JD, Fisher VA, Forouhi NG, Franco OH, Friedlander Y, Gao H, Gigante B, Graff M, Gu CC, Gu DF, Gupta P, Hagenaars SP, Harris TB, He J, Heikkinen S, Heng CK, Hirata M, Hofman A, Howard BV, Hunt S, Irvin MR, Jia YC, Joehanes R, Justice AE, Katsuya T, Kaufman J, Kerrison ND, Khor CC, Koh WP, Koistinen HA, Komulainen P, Kooperberg C, Krieger JE, Kubo M, Kuusisto J, Langefeld CD, Langenberg C, Launer LJ, Lehne B, Lewis CE, Li YZ, Lim SH, Lin S, Liu CT, Liu JJ, Liu JM, Liu K, Liu YH, Loh M, Lohman KK, Long JR, Louie T, Magi R, Mahajan A, Meitinger T, Metspalu A, Milani L, Momozawa Y, Morris AP, Mosley TH, Munson P, Murray AD, Nalls MA, Nasri U, Norris JM, North K, Ogunniyi A, Padmanabhan S, Palmas WR, Palmer ND, Pankow JS, Pedersen NL, Peters A, Peyser PA, Polasek O, Raitakari OT, Renstrom F, Rice TK, Ridker PM, Robino A, Robinson JG, Rose LM, Rudan I, Sabanayagam C, Salako BL, Sandow K, Schmidt CO, Schreiner PJ, Scott WR, Seshadri S, Sever P, Sitlani CM, Smith JA, Snieder H, Starr JM, Strauch K, Tang H, Taylor KD, Teo YY, Tham YC, Ultterlinden AG, Waldenberger M, Wang LH, Wang YX, Bin Wei W, Williams C, Wilson G, Wojczynski MK, Yao J, Yuan JM, Zonderman AB, Becker DM, Boehnke M, Bowden DW, Chambers JC, Chen YDI, de Faire U, Deary IJ, Esko T, Farrall M, Forrester T, Franks PW, Freedman BI, Froguel P, Gasparini P, Gieger C, Horta BL, Hung YJ, Jonas JB, Kato N, Kooner JS, Laakso M, Lehtimaki T, Liang KW, Magnusson PKE, Newman AB, Oldehinkel AJ, Pereira AC, Redline S, Rettig R, Samani NJ, Scott J, Shu XO, van der Harst P, Wagenknecht LE, Wareham NJ, Watkins H, Weir DR, Wickremasinghe AR, Wu TC, Zheng W, Kamatani Y, Laurie CC, Bouchard C, Cooper RS, Evans MK, Gudnason V, Kardia SLR, Kritchevsky SB, Levy D, O'Connell JR, Psaty BM, van Dam RM, Sims M, Arnett DK, Mook-Kanamori DO, Kelly TN, Fox ER, Hayward C, Fornage M, Rotimi CN, Province MA, van Duijn CM, Tai ES, Wong TY, Loos RJF, Reiner AP, Rotter JI, Zhu XF, Bierut LJ, Gauderman WJ, Caulfield MJ, Elliott P, Rice K, Munroe PB, Morrison AC, Cupples LA, Rao DC, Chasman DI
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Haplotype Sharing Provides Insights into Fine-Scale Population History and Disease in Finland (2018)

American Journal of Human Genetics
Martin AR, Karczewski KJ, Kerminen S, Kurki MI, Sarin AP, Artomov M, Eriksson JG, Esko T, Genovese G, Havulinna AS, Kaprio J, Konradi A, Koranyi L, Kostareva A, Mannikko M, Metspalu A, Perola M, Prasad RB, Raitakari O, Rotar O, Salomaa V, Groop L, Palotie A, Neale BM, Ripatti S, Pirinen M, Daly MJ, Daly MJ
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Habitual coffee consumption and cognitive function: a Mendelian randomization meta-analysis in up to 415,530 participants (2018)

Scientific Reports
Zhou A, Taylor AE, Karhunen V, Zhan YQ, Rovio SP, Lahti J, Sjogren P, Byberg L, Lyall DM, Auvinen J, Lehtimaki T, Kahonen M, Hutri-Kahonen N, Perala MM, Michaelsson K, Mahajan A, Lind L, Power C, Eriksson JG, Raitakari OT, Hagg S, Pedersen NL, Veijola J, Jarvelin MR, Munafo MR, Ingelsson E, Llewellyn DJ, Hypponen E
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Study of 300,486 individuals identifies 148 independent genetic loci influencing general cognitive function (2018)

Nature Communications
Davies G, Lam M, Harris SE, Trampush JW, Luciano M, Hill WD, Hagenaars SP, Ritchie SJ, Marioni RE, Fawns-Ritchie C, Liewald DCM, Okely JA, Ahola-Olli AV, Barnes CLK, Bertram L, Bis JC, Burdick KE, Christoforou A, DeRosse P, Djurovic S, Espeseth T, Giakoumaki S, Giddaluru S, Gustavson DE, Hayward C, Hofer E, Ikram MA, Karlsson R, Knowles E, Lahti J, Leber M, Li S, Mather KA, Melle I, Morris D, Oldmeadow C, Palviainen T, Payton A, Pazoki R, Petrovic K, Reynolds CA, Sargurupremraj M, Scholz M, Smith JA, Smith AV, Terzikhan N, Thalamuthu A, Trompet S, Lee SJD, Ware EB, Windham BG, Wright MJ, Yang J, Yu J, Ames D, Amin N, Amouyel P, Andreassen OA, Armstrong NJ, Assareh AA, Attia JR, Attix D, Avramopoulos D, Bennett DA, Boehmer AC, Boyle PA, Brodaty H, Campbell H, Cannon TD, Cirulli ET, Congdon E, Conley ED, Corley J, Cox SR, Dale AM, Dehghan A, Dick D, Dickinson D, Eriksson JG, Evangelou E, Faul JD, Ford I, Freimer NA, Gao H, Giegling I, Gillespie NA, Gordon SD, Gottesman RF, Griswold ME, Gudnason V, Harris TB, Hartmann AM, Hatzimanolis A, Heiss G, Holliday EG, Joshi PK, Kahonen M, Kardia SLR, Karlsson I, Kleineidam L, Knopman DS, Kochan NA, Konte B, Kwok JB, Hellard S, Lee T, Lehtimaki T, Li SC, Liu T, Koini M, London E, LongstrethJr WT, Lopez OL, Loukola A, Luck T, Lundervold AJ, Lundquist A, Lyytikainen LP, Martin NG, Montgomery GW, Murray AD, Need AC, Noordam R, Nyberg L, Ollier W, Papenberg G, Pattie A, Polasek O, Poldrack RA, Psaty BM, Reppermund S, Riedel-Heller SG, Rose RJ, Rotter JI, Roussos P, Rovio SP, Saba Y, Sabb FW, Sachdev PS, Satizabal CL, Schmid M, Scott RJ, Scult MA, Simino J, Slagboom PE, Smyrnis N, Soumare A, Stefanis NC, Stott DJ, Straub RE, Sundet K, Taylor AM, Taylor KD, Tzoulaki I, Tzourio C, Uitterlinden A, Vitart V, Voineskos AN, Kaprio J, Wagner M, Wagner H, Weinhold L, Wen KH, Widen E, Yang Q, Zhao W, Adams HHH, Arking DE, Bilder RM, Bitsios P, Boerwinkle E, Chiba-Falek O, Corvin A, Jager PL, Debette S, Donohoe G, Elliott P, Fitzpatrick AL, Gill M, Glahn DC, Hagg S, Hansell NK, Hariri AR, Ikram MK, Jukema JW, Vuoksimaa E, Keller MC, Kremen WS, Launer L, Lindenberger U, Palotie A, Pedersen NL, Pendleton N, Porteous DJ, Raikkonen K, Raitakari OT, Ramirez A, Reinvang I, Rudan I, Rujescu D, Schmidt R, Schmidt H, Schofield PW, Schofield PR, Starr JM, Steen VM, Trollor JN, Turner ST, Duijn CM, Villringer A, Weinberger DR, Weir DR, Wilson JF, Malhotra A, McIntosh AM, Gale CR, Seshadri S, MosleyJr TH, Bressler J, Lencz T, Deary IJ,
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))