Terho Heikkinen profile picture
Terho
Heikkinen
Professor, Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Professor of Paediatrics, MD, PhD
Respiratory infections in children; RESCEU (EU/IMI-funded project 2017-2021); INFORM study

Contact

Areas of expertise

Paediatric infectious diseases
respiratory infections
respiratory viruses
vaccinations
influenza
respiratory syncytial virus
otitis media

Biography

Professor Terho Heikkinen graduated from the Medical School at the University of Turku in 1984, where he also specialized in Paediatrics and Paediatric Infectious Diseases. He defended his thesis on Development and prevention of acute otitis media in children in 1994. Having received the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship Award, he worked in 1996-1998 as a post-doc Research Fellow at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, USA. Subsequently, he worked as a Senior Clinical Researcher and Clinical Lecturer at the Department of Paediatrics, University of Turku. Since 2016, he has been Professor of Paediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku.

During the years, Terho Heikkinen has served as the chairman or a board member of several international and domestic societies in the field of paediatric infectious diseases, including the President of the World Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases. He is currently a board member of the European Scientific Working Group on Influenza (ESWI), a scientific advisory board and executive committee member of the global Respiratory Syncytial Virus Network (ReSViNET), and the chairman of the Nordic Research Network for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (NORDPID).

Teaching

Since 1999, Terho Heikkinen has worked as a full-time teacher of paediatrics at the Department of Paediatrics, University of Turku. He is also responsible for the organization of the biannual International Course of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine for international Erasmus students. He has given 188 invited lectures at various international and domestic academic meetings.


Research

Terho Heikkinen´s major research interest lies in respiratory infections, especially those caused by influenza or respiratory syncytial viruses. In year 2000, he founded his own research group and initiated a long-term research project on respiratory virus infections in children, including the etiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and overall societal impact of these infections and their complications.

Terho Heikkinen has been actively involved in international research collaboration. In 2014, he was a founding member of ReSViNET, a global respiratory syncytial virus research network. He is also a principal investigator in RESCEU (Respiratory syncytial virus consortium in Europe) that in 2017 received 5-year EU/IMI funding for research on the burden of respiratory syncytial virus infections in Europe. He was also a founding member of the Nordic Research Network for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (NORDPID) that was established in 2018.

 

Publications

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Substantial Burden of Nonmedically Attended RSV Infection in Healthy-Term Infants : An International Prospective Birth Cohort Study (2024)

Journal of Infectious Diseases
Hak Sarah F, Venekamp Roderick P, Billard Marie-Noëlle, van Houten Marlies A, Pollard Andrew J, Heikkinen Terho, Cunningham Steve, Millar Margaret, Martinón-Torres Federico, Dacosta-Urbieta Ana, Bont Louis J, Wildenbeest Joanne G; PROMISE Investigators
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

The genomic evolutionary dynamics and global circulation patterns of respiratory syncytial virus (2024)

Nature Communications
Langedijk Annefleur C., Vrancken Bram, Lebbink Robert Jan, Wilkins Deidre, Kelly Elizabeth J., Baraldi Eugenio, Mascareñas de Los Santos Abiel Homero, Danilenko Daria M., Choi Eun Hwa, Palomino María Angélica, Chi Hsin, Keller Christian, Cohen Robert, Papenburg Jesse, Pernica Jeffrey, Greenough Anne, Richmond Peter, Martinón-Torres Federico, Heikkinen Terho, Stein Renato T., Hosoya Mitsuaki, Nunes Marta C., Verwey Charl, Evers Anouk, Kragten-Tabatabaie Leyla, Suchard Marc A., Kosakovsky Pond Sergei L., Poletto Chiara, Colizza Vittoria, Lemey Philippe, Bont Louis J., Priante Elena, Komissarova Kseniya, Yun Ki Wook, Clement Pascale, Bauck Monica, Gupta Atul, Wadia Ushma, Rivero-Calle Irene, Lumertz Magalia, Hasimoto Koichi, Madhi Shabir A.; on behalf of the INFORM-RSV Study Group
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Global disease burden of and risk factors for acute lower respiratory infections caused by respiratory syncytial virus in preterm infants and young children in 2019: a systematic review and meta-analysis of aggregated and individual participant data (2024)

Lancet
Wang Xin, Li You, Shi Ting, Bont Louis J, Chu Helen Y, Zar Heather J, Wahi-Singh Bhanu, Ma Yiming, Cong Bingbing, Sharland Emma, Riley Richard D, Deng Jikui, Figueras-Aloy Josep, Heikkinen Terho, Jones Marcus H, Liese Johannes G, Markić Joško, Mejias Asuncion, Nunes Marta C, Resch Bernhard, Satav Ashish, Yeo Kee Thai, Simões Eric A F, Nair Harish, Arruda Eurico, Baillie Vicky L, Chong Debora, Crow Rowena, Filho Nelson Rosário, Laubscher Marius, Madhi Shabir A, Mrcela Dina, Ramilo Octavio, Roje Damir, Stein Renato Tetelbom, Yung Chee Fu; Respiratory Virus Global Epidemiology Network; for the RESCEU investigators
(Vertaisarvioitu katsausartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A2))

Economic burden and health-related quality-of-life among infants with respiratory syncytial virus infection: A multi-country prospective cohort study in Europe (2023)

Vaccine
Mao Zhuxin, Li Xiao, Dacosta-Urbieta Ana, Billard Marie-Noëlle, Wildenbeest Joanne, Korsten Koos, Martinón-Torres Federico, Heikkinen Terho, Cunningham Steve, Snape Matthew D, Robinson Hannah, Pollard Andrew J, Postma Maarten, Dervaux Benoit, Hens Niels, Bont Louis, Bilcke Joke, Beutels Philippe, for RESCEU investigators
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))