Leena Palotie

Professor Leena Palotie (née Peltonen, born June 16 1952 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish geneticist.

Palotie has contributed to the discovery of 15 genes for heritable diseases in the Finnish population, including arterial hypertension, schizophrenia, lactose intolerance, arthrosis and multiple sclerosis.

From 1998 to 2002 Palotie helped to found the UCLA Human Genetics Genome Center. She has had a professorial position in the Academy of Finland since 2003. In April 2005 Palotie was employed in the University of Helsinki and the National Public Health Institute of Finland. She is also project director in the EU project GenomEUtwin that was formed to define and characterize the genetic components in the background of different diseases. Since 2004, she has been a member of the Board of Directors of Orion Corporation, the largest Finnish pharmaceutical company. In September 2007, Palotie joined the [http://www.sanger.ac.uk Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute] as the head of Human Genetics.

Palotie has published over 370 research articles and around 60 invite articles. In addition to many academic rewards she has received a honorary degree from the University of Uppsala and the University of Joensuu. In 2006, Palotie was awarded the Belgian prize Prix van Gysel, worth of 100 000 euros. Later the same year she also received the Stora Fernströmpriset, worth of 1,000,000 Swedish krona (approximately 108,000 euros).

External links

* [http://www.helsinki.fi/biocentrum/palotie.html Leena Palotie's research group.]