Olli Raitakari profile picture
Olli
Raitakari
InFLAMES Flagship
Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine (CAPC)
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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High Intestinal Cholesterol Absorption Is Associated With Cardiovascular Disease and Risk Alleles in ABCG8 and ABO Evidence From the LURIC and YFS Cohorts and From a Meta-Analysis (2013)

Journal of the American College of Cardiology
Silbernagel G, Chapman MJ, Genser B, Kleber ME, Fauler G, Scharnagl H, Grammer TB, Boehm BO, Makela KM, Kahonen M, Carmena R, Rietzschel ER, Bruckert E, Deanfield JE, Miettinen TA, Raitakari OT, Lehtimaki T, Marz W
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new susceptibility loci for migraine (2013)

Nature Genetics
Anttila V, Winsvold BS, Gormley P, Kurth T, Bettella F, McMahon G, Kallela M, Malik R, de Vries B, Terwindt G, Medland SE, Todt U, McArdle WL, Quaye L, Koiranen M, Ikram MA, Lehtimaki T, Stam AH, Ligthart L, Wedenoja J, Dunham I, Neale BM, Palta P, Hamalainen E, Schurks M, Rose LM, Buring JE, Ridker PM, Steinberg S, Stefansson H, Jakobsson F, Lawlor DA, Evans DM, Ring SM, Farkkila M, Artto V, Kaunisto MA, Freilinger T, Schoenen J, Frants RR, Pelzer N, Weller CM, Zielman R, Heath AC, Madden PAF, Montgomery GW, Martin NG, Borck G, Gobel H, Heinze A, Heinze-Kuhn K, Williams FMK, Hartikainen AL, Pouta A, van den Ende J, Uitterlinden AG, Hofman A, Amin N, Hottenga JJ, Vink JM, Heikkila K, Alexander M, Muller-Myhsok B, Schreiber S, Meitinger T, Wichmann HE, Aromaa A, Eriksson JG, Traynor BJ, Trabzuni D, Rossin E, Lage K, Jacobs SBR, Gibbs JR, Birney E, Kaprio J, Penninx BW, Boomsma DI, van Duijn C, Raitakari O, Jarvelin MR, Zwart JA, Cherkas L, Strachan DP, Kubisch C, Ferrari MD, van den Maagdenberg AMJM, Dichgans M, Wessman M, Smith GD, Stefansson K, Daly MJ, Nyholt DR, Chasman DI, Palotie A
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Common variants in mendelian kidney disease genes and their association with renal function. (2013)

Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
Parsa A, Fuchsberger C, Kottgen A, O'Seaghdha CM, Pattaro C, de Andrade M, Chasman DI, Teumer A, Endlich K, Olden M, Chen M, Tin A, Kim YJ, Taliun D, Li M, Feitosa M, Gorski M, Yang Q, Hundertmark C, Foster MC, Glazer N, Isaacs A, Rao M, Smith AV, O'Connell JR, Struchalin M, Tanaka T, Li G, Hwang S, Atkinson EJ, Lohman K, Cornelis MC, Johansson A, Tonjes A, Dehghan A, Couraki V, Holliday EG, Sorice R, Kutalik Z, Lehtimaki T, Esko T, Deshmukh H, Ulivi S, Chu AY, Murgia F, Trompet S, Imboden M, Kollerits B, Pistis G, Harris TB, Launer LJ, Aspelund T, Eiriksdottir G, Mitchell BD, Boerwinkle E, Schmidt H, Hofer E, Hu F, Demirkan A, Oostra BA, Turner ST, Ding J, Andrews JS, Freedman BI, Giulianini F, Koenig W, Illig T, Doring A, Wichmann H-, Zgaga L, Zemunik T, Boban M, Minelli C, Wheeler HE, Igl W, Zaboli G, Wild SH, Wright AF, Campbell H, Ellinghaus D, Nothlings U, Jacobs G, Biffar R, Ernst F, Homuth G, Kroemer HK, Nauck M, Stracke S, Volker U, Volzke H, Kovacs P, Stumvoll M, Magi R, Hofman A, Uitterlinden AG, Rivadeneira F, Aulchenko YS, Polasek O, Hastie N, Vitart V, Helmer C, Wang JJ, Stengel B, Ruggiero D, Bergmann S, Kahonen M, Viikari J, Nikopensius T, Province M, Colhoun H, Doney A, Robino A, Kramer BK, Portas L, Ford I, Buckley BM, Adam M, Thun G, Paulweber B, Haun M, Sala C, Mitchell P, Ciullo M, Vollenweider P, Raitakari O, Metspalu A, Palmer C, Gasparini P, Pirastu M, Jukema JW, Probst-Hensch NM, Kronenberg F, Toniolo D, Gudnason V, Shuldiner AR, Coresh J, Schmidt R, Ferrucci L, van Duijn CM, Borecki I, Kardia SLR, Liu Y, Curhan GC, Rudan I, Gyllensten U, Wilson JF, Franke A, Pramstaller PP, Rettig R, Prokopenko I, Witteman J, Hayward C, Ridker PM, Bochud M, Heid IM, Siscovick DS, Fox CS, Kao WL, Boger CA
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies 11 new loci for anthropometric traits and provides insights into genetic architecture (2013)

Nature Genetics
Berndt SI, Gustafsson S, Magi R, Ganna A, Wheeler E, Feitosa MF, Justice AE, Monda KL, Croteau-Chonka DC, Day FR, Esko T, Fall T, Ferreira T, Gentilini D, Jackson AU, Luan JA, Randall JC, Vedantam S, Willer CJ, Winkler TW, Wood AR, Workalemahu T, Hu YJ, Lee SH, Liang LM, Lin DY, Min JL, Neale BM, Thorleifsson G, Yang J, Albrecht E, Amin N, Bragg-Gresham JL, Cadby G, den Heijer M, Eklund N, Fischer K, Goel A, Hottenga JJ, Huffman JE, Jarick I, Johansson A, Johnson T, Kanoni S, Kleber ME, Konig IR, Kristiansson K, Kutalik Z, Lamina C, Lecoeur C, Li G, Mangino M, McArdle WL, Medina-Gomez C, Muller-Nurasyid M, Ngwa JS, Nolte IM, Lavinia P, Pechlivanis S, Perola M, Peters MJ, Preuss M, Rose LM, Shi JX, Shungin D, Smith AV, Strawbridge RJ, Surakka I, Teumer A, Trip MD, Tyrer J, Van Vliet-Ostaptchouk JV, Vandenput L, Waite LL, Zhao JH, Absher D, Asselbergs FW, Atalay M, Attwood AP, Balmforth AJ, Basart H, Beilby J, Bonnycastle LL, Brambilla P, Bruinenberg M, Campbell H, Chasman DI, Chines PS, Collins FS, Connell JM, Cookson WO, de Faire U, de Vegt F, Dei M, Dimitriou M, Edkins S, Estrada K, Evans DM, Farrall M, Ferrario MM, Ferrieres J, Franke L, Frau F, Gejman PV, Grallert H, Gronberg H, Gudnason V, Hall AS, Hall P, Hartikainen AL, Hayward C, Heard-Costa NL, Heath AC, Hebebrand J, Homuth G, Hu FB, Hunt SE, Hypponen E, Iribarren C, Jacobs KB, Jansson JO, Jula A, Kahonen M, Kathiresan S, Kee F, Khaw KT, Kivimaki M, Koenig W, Kraja AT, Kumari M, Kuulasmaa K, Kuusisto J, Laitinen JH, Lakka TA, Langenberg C, Launer LJ, Lind L, Lindstrom J, Liu JJ, Liuzzi A, Lokki ML, Lorentzon M, Madden PA, Magnusson PK, Manunta P, Marek D, Marz W, Leach IM, McKnight B, Medland SE, Mihailov E, Milani L, Montgomery GW, Mooser V, Muhleisen TW, Munroe PB, Musk AW, Narisu N, Navis G, Nicholson G, Nohr EA, Ong KK, Oostra BA, Palmer CNA, Palotie A, Peden JF, Pedersen N, Peters A, Polasek O, Pouta A, Pramstaller PP, Prokopenko I, Putter C, Radhakrishnan A, Raitakari O, Rendon A, Rivadeneira F, Rudan I, Saaristo TE, Sambrook JG, Sanders AR, Sanna S, Saramies J, Schipf S, Schreiber S, Schunkert H, Shin SY, Signorini S, Sinisalo J, Skrobek B, Soranzo N, Stancakova A, Stark K, Stephens JC, Stirrups K, Stolk RP, Stumvoll M, Swift AJ, Theodoraki EV, Thorand B, Tregouet DA, Tremoli E, Van der Klauw MM, van Meurs JBJ, Vermeulen SH, Viikari J, Virtamo J, Vitart V, Waeber G, Wang ZM, Widen E, Wild SH, Willemsen G, Winkelmann BR, Witteman JCM, Wolffenbuttel BHR, Wong A, Wright AF, Zillikens MC, Amouyel P, Boehm BO, Boerwinkle E, Boomsma DI, Caulfield MJ, Chanock SJ, Cupples LA, Cusi D, Dedoussis GV, Erdmann J, Eriksson JG, Franks PW, Froguel P, Gieger C, Gyllensten U, Hamsten A, Harris TB, Hengstenberg C, Hicks AA, Hingorani A, Hinney A, Hofman A, Hovingh KG, Hveem K, Illig T, Jarvelin MR, Jockel KH, Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi SM, Kiemeney LA, Kuh D, Laakso M, Lehtimaki T, Levinson DF, Martin NG, Metspalu A, Morris AD, Nieminen MS, Njolstad I, Ohlsson C, Oldehinkel AJ, Ouwehand WH, Palmer LJ, Penninx B, Power C, Province MA, Psaty BM, Qi L, Rauramaa R, Ridker PM, Ripatti S, Salomaa V, Samani NJ, Snieder H, Sorensen TIA, Spector TD, Stefansson K, Tonjes A, Tuomilehto J, Uitterlinden AG, Uusitupa M, van der Harst P, Vollenweider P, Wallaschofski H, Wareham NJ, Watkins H, Wichmann HE, Wilson JF, Abecasis GR, Assimes TL, Barroso I, Boehnke M, Borecki IB, Deloukas P, Fox CS, Frayling T, Groop LC, Haritunian T, Heid IM, Hunter D, Kaplan RC, Karpe F, Moffatt MF, Mohlke KL, O'Connell JR, Pawitan Y, Schadt EE, Schlessinger D, Steinthorsdottir V, Strachan DP, Thorsteinsdottir U, van Duijn CM, Visscher PM, Di Blasio AM, Hirschhorn JN, Lindgren CM, Morris AP, Meyre D, Scherag A, McCarthy MI, Speliotes EK, North KE, Loos RJF, Ingelsson E
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

The Molecular Genetic Architecture of Self-Employment (2013)

PLoS ONE
van der Loos MJHM, Rietveld CA, Eklund N, Koellinger PD, Rivadeneira F, Abecasis GR, Ankra-Badu GA, Baumeister SE, Benjamin DJ, Biffar R, Blankenberg S, Boomsma DI, Cesarini D, Cucca F, de Geus EJC, Dedoussis G, Deloukas P, Dimitriou M, Eiriksdottir G, Eriksson J, Gieger C, Gudnason V, Hohne B, Holle R, Hottenga JJ, Isaacs A, Jarvelin MR, Johannesson M, Kaakinen M, Kahonen M, Kanoni S, Laaksonen MA, Lahti J, Launer LJ, Lehtimaki T, Loitfelder M, Magnusson PKE, Naitza S, Oostra BA, Perola M, Petrovic K, Quaye L, Raitakari O, Ripatti S, Scheet P, Schlessinger D, Schmidt CO, Schmidt H, Schmidt R, Senft A, Smith AV, Spector TD, Surakka I, Svento R, Terracciano A, Tikkanen E, van Duijn CM, Viikari J, Volzke H, Wichmann HE, Wild PS, Willems SM, Willemsen G, van Rooij FJA, Groenen PJF, Uitterlinden AG, Hofman A, Thurik AR
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))