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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Gene-Environment Interactions of Circadian-Related Genes for Cardiometabolic Traits (2015)

Diabetes Care
Dashti HS, Follis JL, Smith CE, Tanaka T, Garaulet M, Gottlieb DJ, Hruby A, Jacques PF, Kiefte-de Jong JC, Lamon-Fava S, Scheer FAJL, Bartz TM, Kovanen L, Wojczynski MK, Frazier-Wood AC, Ahluwalia TS, Perala MM, Jonsson A, Muka T, Kalafati IP, Mikkila V, Ordovas JM; for the CHARGE Nutrition Study Group
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Dietary Intake, FTO Genetic Variants, and Adiposity: A Combined Analysis of Over 16,000 Children and Adolescents (2015)

Diabetes
Qi QB, Downer MK, Kilpelainen TO, Taal HR, Barton SJ, Ntalla I, Standl M, Boraska V, Huikari V, Kiefte-de Jong JC, Korner A, Lakka TA, Liu GF, Magnusson J, Okuda M, Raitakari O, Richmond R, Scott RA, Bailey MES, Scheuermann K, Holloway JW, Inskip H, Isasi CR, Mossavar-Rahmani Y, Jaddoe VWV, Laitinen J, Lindi V, Melen E, Pitsiladis Y, Pitkanen N, Snieder H, Heinrich J, Timpson NJ, Wang T, Yuji H, Zeggini E, Dedoussis GV, Kaplan RC, Wylie-Rosett J, Loos RJF, Hu FB, Qi L
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology (2015)

Nature
Locke AE, Kahali B, Berndt SI, Justice AE, Pers TH, Felix R, Powell C, Vedantam S, Buchkovich ML, Yang J, Croteau-Chonka DC, Esko T, Fall T, Ferreira T, Gustafsson S, Kutalik Z, Luan JA, Magi R, Randall JC, Winkler TW, Wood AR, Workalemahu T, Faul JD, Smith JA, Zhao JH, Zhao W, Chen J, Fehrmann R, Hedman AK, Karjalainen J, Schmidt EM, Absher D, Amin N, Anderson D, Beekman M, Bolton JL, Bragg-Gresham L, Buyske S, Demirkan A, Deng GH, Ehret GB, Feenstra B, Feitosa MF, Fischer K, Goel A, Gong J, Jackson AU, Kanoni S, Kleber ME, Kristiansson K, Lim U, Lotay V, Mangino M, Leach IM, Medina-Gomez C, Medland SE, Nalls MA, Palmer CD, Pasko D, Pechlivanis S, Peters MJ, Prokopenko I, Shungin D, Stancakova A, Strawbridge RJ, Sung YJ, Tanaka T, Teumer A, Trompet S, van der Laan SW, van Settee J, Van Vliet-Ostaptchouk JV, Wang ZM, Yengo L, Zhang WH, Isaacs A, Albrecht E, Arnlov J, Arscott GM, Attwood AP, Bandinelli S, Barrett A, Bas IN, Bellis C, Bennett AJ, Berne C, Blagieva R, Bluher M, Bohringer S, Bonnycastle LL, Bottcher Y, Boyd HA, Bruinenberg M, Caspersen IH, Chen YD, Clarke R, Daw EW, de Craen AJM, Delgado G, Dimitriou M, Doney ASF, Eklund N, Estrada K, Eury E, Folkersen L, Fraser RM, Garcia ME, Geller F, Giedraitis V, Gigante B, Go AS, Golay A, Goodall AH, Gordon SD, Gorski M, Grabe HJ, Grallert H, Grammer TB, Grassler J, Gronberg H, Groves CJ, Gusto G, Haessler J, Hall P, Haller T, Hallmans G, Hartman CA, Hassinen M, Hayward C, Heard-Costa NL, Helmer Q, Hengstenberg C, Holmen O, Hottenga JJ, James AL, Jeff JM, Johansson A, Jolley J, Juliusdottir T, Kinnunen L, Koenig W, Koskenvuo M, Kratzer W, Laitinen J, Lamina C, Leander K, Lee NR, Lichtner P, Lind L, Lindstrom J, Lo KS, Lobbens S, Lorbeer R, Lu YC, Mach F, Magnusson PKE, Mahajan A, McArdle WL, McLachlan S, Menni C, Merger S, Mihailov E, Milani L, Moayyeri A, Monda KL, Morken MA, Mulas A, Muller G, Muller-Nurasyid M, Musk AW, Nagaraja R, Nothen MM, Nolte IM, Pilz S, Rayner NW, Renstrom F, Rettig R, Ried JS, Ripke S, Robertson NR, Rose LM, Sanna S, Scharnagl H, Scholtens S, Schumacher FR, Scott WR, Seufferlein T, Shi JX, Smith AV, Smolonska J, Stanton AV, Steinthorsdottir V, Stirrups K, Stringham HM, Sundstrom J, Swertz MA, Swift AJ, Syvanen AC, Tan ST, Tayo BO, Thorand B, Thorleifsson G, Tyrer JP, Uh HW, Vandenput L, Verhulst FC, Vermeulen SH, Verweij N, Vonk JM, Waite LL, Warren HR, Waterworth D, Weedon MN, Wilkens LR, Willenborg C, Wilsgaard T, Wojczynski MK, Wong A, Wrightl AF, Zhang QY, Brennan EP, Choi M, Dastani Z, Drong AW, Eriksson P, Franco-Cereceda A, Gadin JR, Gharavi AG, Goddard ME, Handsaker RE, Huang JY, Karpe F, Kathiresan S, Keildson S, Kiryluk K, Kubo M, Lee JY, Liang L, Lifton RP, Ma BS, McCarroll SA, McKnight AJ, Min JL, Moffatt MF, Montgomery GW, Murabito JM, Nicholson G, Nyholt DR, Okada Y, Perry JRB, Dorajoo R, Reinmaa E, Salem RM, Sandholm N, Scott RA, Stolk L, Takahashi A, Tanaka T, van 't Hooft FM, Vinkhuyzen AAE, Westra HJ, Zheng W, Zondervan KT, Heath AC, Arveiler D, Bakker SJL, Beilby J, Bergman RN, Blangero J, Bovet P, Campbell H, Caulfield MJ, Cesana G, Chakravarti A, Chasman DI, Chines PS, Collins FS, Crawford DC, Cupples LA, Cusi D, Danesh J, de Faire U, den Ruijter HM, Dominiczak AF, Erbel R, Erdmann J, Eriksson JG, Farrall M, Felix SB, Ferrannini E, Ferrieres J, Ford I, Forouhi NG, Forrester T, Franco OH, Gansevoort RT, Gejman PV, Gieger C, Gottesman O, Gudnason V, Gyllensten U, Hall AS, Harris TB, Hattersley AT, Hicks AA, Hindorff LA, Hingorani AD, Hofman A, Homuth G, Hovingh GK, Humphries SE, Hunt SC, Hypponen E, Illig T, Jacobs KB, Jarvelin MR, Jockel KH, Johansen B, Jousilahti P, Jukema JW, Jula AM, Kaprio J, Kastelein JJP, Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi SM, Kiemeney LA, Knekt P, Kooner JS, Kooperberg C, Kovacs P, Kraja AT, Kumari M, Kuusisto J, Lakka TA, Langenberg C, Le Marchand L, Lehtimaki T, Lyssenko V, Mannisto S, Marette A, Matise TC, McKenzie CA, McKnight B, Moll FL, Morris AD, Morris AP, Murray JC, Nelis M, Ohlsson C, Oldehinkel AJ, Ong KK, Madden PAF, Pasterkamp G, Peden JF, Peters A, Postma DS, Pramstaller PP, Price JF, Qi L, Raitakari OT, Rankinen T, Rao DC, Rice TK, Ridker PM, Rioux JD, Ritchie MD, Rudan I, Salomaa V, Samani NJ, Saramines J, Sarzynski MA, Schunkert H, Schwarz PEH, Sever P, Shuldiner AR, Sinisalo J, Stolk RP, Strauch K, Tonjes A, Tregouet DA, Tremblay A, Tremoli E, Virtamo J, Vohl MC, Volker U, Waeber G, Willemsen G, Witteman JC, Zillikens MC, Adair LS, Amouyel P, Asselbergs FW, Assimes TL, Bochud M, Boehm BO, Boerwinkle E, Bornstein SR, Bottinger EP, Bouchard C, Cauchi S, Chambers JC, Chanock SJ, Cooper RS, de Bakker PIW, Dedoussis G, Ferrucci L, Franks PW, Froguel P, Groop LC, Haiman CA, Hamsten A, Hui JN, Hunter DJ, Hveem K, Kaplan RC, Kivimaki M, Kuh D, Laakso M, Liu YM, Martin NG, Marz W, Melbve M, Metspalu A, Moebus S, Munroe PB, Njolstad I, Oostra BA, Palmer CNA, Pedersen NL, Perola M, Perusse L, Peters U, Power C, Quertermous T, Rauramaa R, Rivadeneira F, Saaristo TE, Saleheen D, Sattar N, Schadt EE, Schlessinger D, Slagboom PE, Snieder H, Spector TD, Thorsteinsdottir UR, Stumvoll M, Tuomilehto J, Uitterlinden AG, Uusitupa M, van der Harst P, Walker M, Wallaschofski H, Wareham NJ, Watkins H, Weir DR, Wichmann HE, Wilson JF, Zanen P, Borecki IB, Deloukas P, Fox CS, Heid IM, O'Connell JR, Strachan DP, Stefansson K, van Duijri CM, Abecasis GR, Franke L, Frayling TM, McCarthy MI, Visscher PM, Scherag A, Willer CJ, Boehnke M, Mohlke KL, Lindgren CM, Beckmann JS, Barroso I, North KE, Ingelsson E, Hirschhorn JN, Loos RJF, Speliotes EK
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Shared genetic basis for migraine and ischemic stroke: A genome-wide analysis of common variants (2015)

Neurology
Malik R, Freilinger T, Anttila V, Vander Heiden J, Traylor M, de Vries B, Holliday EG, Terwindt GM, Sturm J, Bis JC, Hopewell JC, Ferrari MD, Rannikmae K, Wessman M, Kallela M, Kubisch C, Fornage M, Meschia JF, Lehtimaki T, Sudlow C, Clarke R, Chasman DI, Mitchell BD, Maguire J, Kaprio J, Farrall M, Raitakari OT, Kurth T, Ikram MA, Reiner AP, Longstreth WT, Rothwell PM, Strachan DP, Sharma P, Seshadri S, Quaye L, Cherkas L, Schurks M, Rosand J, Ligthart L, Boncoraglio GB, Smith GD, van Duijn CM, Stefansson K, Worrall BB, Nyholt DR, Markus HS, van den Maagdenberg AMJM, Cotsapas C, Zwart JA, Palotie A, Dichgans M
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Concordance of genetic risk across migraine subgroups: Impact on current and future genetic association studies (2015)

Cephalalgia
Nyholt DR, Anttila V, Winsvold BS, Kurth T, Stefansson H, Kallela M, Malik R, de Vries B, Terwindt GM, Ikram MA, Stam AH, Ligthart L, Freilinger T, Alexander M, Muller-Myhsok B, Schreiber S, Meitinger T, Aromaa A, Eriksson JG, Kaprio J, Boomsma DI, van Duijn C, Raitakari O, Jarvelin MR, Zwart JA, Quaye L, Strachan DP, Kubisch C, Ferrari MD, van den Maagdenberg AMJM, Dichgans M, Wessman M, Smith GD, Stefansson K, Chasman DI, Palotie A
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Sixteen new lung function signals identified through 1000 Genomes Project reference panel imputation (2015)

Nature Communications
Artigas MS, Wain LV, Miller S, Kheirallah AK, Huffman JE, Ntalla I, Shrine N, Obeidat M, Trochet H, McArdle WL, Alves AC, Hui J, Zhao JH, Joshi PK, Teumer A, Albrecht E, Imboden M, Rawal R, Lopez LM, Marten J, Enroth S, Surakka I, Polasek O, Lyytikäinen LP, Granell R, Hysi PG, Flexeder C, Mahajan A, Beilby J, Bossé Y, Brandsma CA, Campbell H, Gieger C, Gläser S, González JR, Grallert H, Hammond CJ, Harris SE, Hartikainen AL, Heliövaara M, Henderson J, Hocking L, Horikoshi M, Hutri-Kähönen N, Ingelsson E, Johansson Å, Kemp JP, Kolcic I, Kumar A, Lind L, Melén E, Musk AW, Navarro P, Nickle DC, Padmanabhan S, Raitakari OT, Ried JS, Ripatti S, Schulz H, Scott RA, Sin DD, Starr JM; UK BiLEVE, Viñuela A, Völzke H, Wild SH, Wright AF, Zemunik T, Jarvis DL, Spector TD, Evans DM, Lehtimäki T, Vitart V, Kähönen M, Gyllensten U, Rudan I, Deary IJ, Karrasch S, Probst-Hensch NM, Heinrich J, Stubbe B, Wilson JF, Wareham NJ, James AL, Morris AP, Jarvelin MR, Hayward C, Sayers I, Strachan DP, Hall IP, Tobin MD
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))