Katja Pahkala | Professor, Head of Paavo Nurmi Centre
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. I am a long-standing senior researcher and the vice director of the Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine (University of Turku).
I am also the vice principal investigator of the globally unique atherosclerosis prevention trial, the STRIP study (Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project). Since 2018, I have been a member of the executive committee and a local co-principal investigator of the multi-center Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (YFS). My professorship in preventive medicine began in 2023, and since the beginning of 2024 I became the head of Paavo Nurmi Centre – a centre of expertise in exercise medicine.
My work aims to provide novel scientific evidence on the importance of early prevention of cardiometabolic diseases to inform preventive guidelines and actions.
