Saara Sillanmäki (saara.sillanmaki@uef.fi)
I am a medical doctor from Kuopio. My research areas include cardiac imaging and physiology, aortic dilation, and the impact of sleep apnea on the heart. I graduated as a medical doctor from the University of Eastern Finland in 2012, obtained my Doctor of Medicine degree in 2019, and specialized in Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine in 2022.
I have nineteen international publications (JUFO categories 1-3), and I have also written national articles and international textbooks. My doctoral dissertation, completed in 2019, examined the relationship between the electrical and mechanical function of the left ventricle in bundle branch block patients. In this research, I used myocardial perfusion imaging, vector ECG, and echocardiography.
In addition to my clinical work in cardiac imaging (KYS, Imaging Center), I work as a researcher in four research groups: the MOMESY research group investigating modern cardiac magnetic methods (principal investigator), the Heart Surgery Imaging Research Group studying aortic dilation (DilAo, KYS), the STAR (Sleep Technology and Analytics Group, UEF) research group conducting sleep research, and the METSIM research group studying the cardiac effects of the metabolic syndrome. Additionally, I serve as the principal investigator for two projects at KYS: “Detection of Coronary Artery Disease with Micro-Electro-Mechanical Sensors (DECADE, Precordior Oy), a project involving the identification of coronary artery disease using microelectromechanical sensors, and a Horizon2020 project focusing on EU-regulated sleep apnea research. I have also worked as a heart health and imaging expert in a multinational breast cancer radiotherapy study and as a research physician in two multinational cardiac medication studies sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry.
I have actively participated in professional associations. I have served as the Secretary of the Finnish Medical Association’s Clinical physiology and Nuclear Medicine Section since 2015, and I became its chairman in 2018 (continuing). I also served as the Secretary of the Finnish Society of Clinical Physiology from 2016 to 2020. I have had the honor of serving on the Ethics Committee of the Northern Savo Hospital District since 2021 and as the Vice Chairman of the Imaging Section of the Finnish Cardiac Society since 2022. I am also a member of the international education-promoting committee, the Section of Nuclear Medicine of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS), and the European Board of Nuclear Medicine (EBNM) CME Accreditation Committee since 2017.
A19: Sillanmäki S, Vainio HL, Ylä-Herttuala E, Husso M, Hedman M. Measuring cardiac dyssynchrony with DENSE (Displacement encoding with stimulated echoes) — a systematic review. Published Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine Sep 2023
A18: Hietakoste S, Armañac-Julián P, Karhu T, Bailón R, Sillanmäki S, Töyräs J, Leppänen T, Myllymaa S, Kainulainen S. Impaired cardiorespiratory coupling in severe sleep apnea-related hypoxemia. Published IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 2023
A17: Sillanmäki S and Iso-Mustajärvi S, 18F-FDG-PET of cardiac sarcoidosis with subcutaneous nodules. Published in the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology J Nucl Cardiol 2023
A16: Rissanen M, Korkalainen H, Duce B, Sillanmäki S, Pitkänen H, Suni A, Nikkonen S, Kulkas S, Töyräs J, Leppänen T, Kainulainen S. Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients with Atrial Arrhythmias Suffer from Prolonged Recovery from Desaturations. Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 2023; https://doi.org/10.1109/TBME.2023.3236680.
A15: Hautanen S, Kiljander T, Korpela T, Saari P, Kokkonen J, Mustonen P, Sillanmäki S, Ylä-Herttuala E, Husso M, Hedman M, Kauhanen P. 4D Flow Versus 2D Phase Contrast MRI in Populations With Bi- and Tricuspid Aortic Valves. In Vivo 2023, 37(1):88-98.
A14: Leppänen T, Kainulainen S, Korkalainen H, Sillanmäki S, Kulkas A, Töyräs J, Nikkonen S. Oximetry: The Working Principle, Signal Formation, and Applications. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2022;1384:C1. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-06413-5_23
A13: Ebrahimian S, Sillanmäki S, Hietakoste S, Duce B, Kulkas A, Töyräs J, Leppänen T, Lipponen JA, Kainulainen S. Inter-sleep stage variations in corrected QT interval differ between obstructive sleep apnea patients with and without stroke history. PLoS One. 2022 Dec 1;17(12):e0278520.
A12: Anttila V, Saraste A, Knuuti J, Hedman M, Jaakkola P, Laugwitz KL, Krane M, Jeppsson A, Sillanmäki S, Rosenmeier J, ZingmarkP, Rudvik A, Garkaviy P, Watson C, Pangalos MN, Fritsche-Danielson R, Collén A, Gan LM. Direct intramyocardial injection of VEGF mRNA in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. Mol Ther. 2023, 17;S1525-0016(22)00675-X.
A11: Hietakoste S, Karhu T, Sillanmäki S, Bailón R, Penzel T, Töyräs J, Leppänen T, Myllymaa S, Kainulainen S. OSA-related respiratory events and desaturation severity are associated with the cardiac response. ERJ Open Research, 2022, 22(1), 204.
A10: Sillanmäki S, Lipponen JA, Korkalainen H, Kulkas A, Leppänen T, Nikkonen S, Töyräs J, Duce B, Suni A, Kainulainen S. QTc prolongation is associated with severe desaturations in stroke patients with sleep apnea. BMC Pulmonary Medicine. May 2022.
A9: Sillanmäki S, Istomina M, Husso A, Hedman M. Reversible myocardial ischaemia caused by ectopic left circumflex coronary artery: a case report. European Heart Journal – Case Report, April 2022.
A8: Hietakoste S, Korkalainen H, Kainulainen S, Sillanmäki S, Nikkonen S, Myllymaa S, Duce B, Töyräs J, Leppänen T. Longer apneas and hypopneas are associated with greater ultra-short-term HRV in obstructive sleep apnea. Sci Rep. Dec 2020.
A7: Sillanmäki S, Gimelli A, Ahmad S, Samir S, Laitinen T, Soman P. Mechanisms of Left Ventricular Dyssynchrony – A Multinational SPECT study of Patients with Bundle Branch Block. In press. J Nucl Cardiol. 2020 Feb 14.
A6: Soman P, Sillanmäki S. Mechanisms of cardiac resynchronization therapy: Inching closer to the truth. J Nucl Cardiol. 2019 Jun 21.
A5: Sillanmäki S, Aapro S, Lipponen JA, Tarvainen MP, Laitinen TM, Hedman M, Hämäläinen H, Laitinen T. Electrical and mechanical dyssynchrony in patients with Right Bundle Branch Block. Accepted for publication J Nucl Cardiol. Aug 2018
A4: Sillanmäki S Lipponen JA, Tarvainen MP, Laitinen TM, Hedman M, Hedman A, Kivelä A, Hämäläinen H, Laitinen T. Relationships between electrical and mechanical dyssynchrony in patients with left bundle branch block and healthy controls. J Nucl Cardiol. 2018 Feb 8. doi: 10.1007/s12350-018-1204-0.
A3: Koivumäki T, Fogliatac, Zeverinod, Bomane, Sierpowska, Moecklid, Vallet, Cozzici, Heikkilä, Väänänen, Vuolukka, Sillanmäki S, Seppälä. Dosimetric evaluation of modern radiation therapy techniques for left breast in deep-inspiration breath-hold, Physica Medica 2018
A2: Sillanmäki S, Koivumäki T, Laitinen TM, Hakulinen M, Hedman M, Laitinen T. BMI influence on the reproducibility of ECG-gated myocardial perfusion imaging phase analysis in comparison with novel echocardiographic dyssynchrony estimation methods. Nuclear Medicine Communications. 2016 Jul;37(7):767-74.
A1: Koivumäki T, Heikkilä J, Väänänen A, Koskela K, Sillanmäki S, Seppälä J. Flattening filter free technique in breath-hold treatments of left-sided breast cancer: The effect on beam-on time and dose distributions. Radiotherapy and Oncology. 2016 Jan;118(1):194-8.
Sanna Salmi (sanna.salmi@uef.fi)
Airway research group aims at identifying clinical and molecular factors for better prediction of inflammatory and neoplastic airway diseases, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) -exacerbated respiratory disease (NERD), asthma, chronic rhinosinusitis and tongue cancer. We use such as next generation sequencing and artificial intelligence in analyses of clinical cohorts and randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials.
Simcha Jong Kon Chin (simcha.jong@uef.fi)
Simcha Jong is a part-time Professor at UEF Business School and a member of UEF’s Neuro Science Research Community. Jong’s primary appointment is at Leiden University where he is the Director and Professor of Science Based Business at the Faculty of Science. Simcha has held previous faculty appointments at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, the UCL School of Management, and École Polytechnique. He has a PhD in Social and Political Sciences from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, an MPhil in Management Studies from the University of Cambridge, and a BA in Social Science from Utrecht University’s University College. In addition, he was a visiting scholar at the Department of Sociology at UC Berkeley.
Simcha currently leads an ERC Consolidator project on the organisation of international R&D consortia, and he has been the recipient of funding from major UK funding bodies such as Innovate UK, ESRC, NESTA, NIHR, Wellcome Trust, and BIS, as well as various industry partners for projects in the field of healthcare innovation.
Simcha’s research has been published in leading international scientific and management journals, including Nature Biotechnology, Research Policy, Journal of Management Studies, Technovation, and Industrial and Corporate Change.
Sudhir Kurl (sudhir.kurl@uef.fi)
Academic Degrees
- MD, University of Eastern Finland
- PhD Public Health
- Docent in Public Health
Clinical Trial Experience
Participation in the phase I-IV of several clinical drug trials (over 60) on Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, stroke, obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome as investigator/principal investigator since 2000.
Major Research and Clinical Interests
- Epidemiology, prevention, diagnostics and therapy of Alzheimer’s disease Aging
- Biomarkers, epidemiology, diagnostics and therapy for cardiovascular diseases.
- Heart brain connection in various
The research group of Aquatic Ecology and Behavioural Ecology
The research group of Aquatic Ecology and Behavioural Ecology operates on both campuses in Joensuu and Kuopio at the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The group consists of several senior researchers, other researchers, post-docs as well as several PhD and MSc students. The group collaborates actively with Finnish (Universities of Helsinki, Oulu, Jyväskylä and Turku) and international (e.g. USA, Canada, Germany, Norway) research partners. The main research areas include aquatic biology, aquatic ecology, evolutionary ecology and behavioural ecology, and the research approach is often multidisciplinary. The main research areas include aquatic biology, aquatic ecology, evolutionary ecology and behavioural ecology, and the research approach is often multidisciplinary. Aquatic organisms, such as fish and crayfish as well as their parasites and diseases, are the main research targets although also terrestrial animals belong to study objects. Even though many of the research problems focus on basic research and scientific theories, also human activities and environmental changes are frequently studied.
Tomi-Pekka Tuomainen (tomi-pekka.tuomainen@uef.fi)
Tomi-Pekka Tuomainen, professor of epidemiology at the UEF School of Medicine, is an active researcher and PhD supervisor in chronic non-communicable diseases, especially atherosclerosis and related disorders. The principal projects include the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study (KIHD), the Kuopio Birth Cohort (KuBiCo), and the Finnish Vitamin D Trial (FIND). In addition to teaching basic epidemiology for medical students, he is in charge of the epidemiology track in the international MPH 2-year masters’ program at the Institute of Public Health. Administratory participation includes the doctoral program in health sciences, the faculty council, and the local medical research ethics committee.
Tommi Laukkanen (tommi.laukkanen@uef.fi)
Vice Dean (research), Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies Adjunct Professor of digital consumer behavior and quantitative market research, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki Associate Editor, International Marketing Review Professor Laukkanen’s research contributes to marketing analytics, innovation adoption and resistance, consumer behavior, ethical consumption, international marketing, and bank marketing. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed international scientific articles and is globally among the leading scholars in electronic banking. His works have appeared in journals such as Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, International Marketing Review, Tourism Management, Journal of Small Business Management, International Journal of Information Management, International Journal of Bank Marketing, and others. He serves in editorial boards of International Journal of Information Management, International Journal of Bank Marketing, and International Journal of Electronic Finance. He is an active member of the scientific community and has presented his research results globally in North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania.