Timo Leppänen

I started my studies in the University of Eastern Finland in 2011 after two years in the service for the Finnish Defense Forces. I got my bachelor, master and doctoral degrees in five years in 2016 at the age of 26 years and my thesis earned a grade of approved with distinction (which is awarded only if dissertation falls in the category of top 5% of its field). Since then, I have been a co-head and principal investigator in the STAG, a research team focusing on sleep-related disorders and development of novel methods and computational tools for sleep data analysis. Furthermore, I have established a wide international collaboration network with world’s top-level scientists and research infrastructures as well as companies operating at business sector. My research is mainly funded by the the Academy of Finland (Postdoctoral Researcher), Business Finland (NordicPerMed project NordSleep) and private foundations.

My research is focused on development of novel diagnostic parameters, mathematical solutions, and paradigms for severity estimation of obstructive sleep apnea. Therefore, it is very closely related to medical physics but it has also strong interface with clinical medicine. Thus, my research is a great example of interdisciplinary research in University of Eastern Finland but also of active research collaboration between University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital.