Professor Juni Palmgren selected FiDiPro at FIMM

Professor Juni Palmgren, from Stockholm University and Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, has been selected to the Academy of Finland Finland Distinguished Professor (FiDiPro) position at the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM). She will join FIMM from the beginning of 2011. Professor Juni Palmgren has in-depth knowledge of statistical epidemiology and statistical genetics. She is an internationally recognised leading figure in promoting biostatistics at the intersection of mathematics, statistics and medicine. She has an extensive research profile that covers modelling and medical computing. Professor Palmgren is also chair of the Swedish Research Council eScience sub-committee and works actively for the promotion of Nordic research infrastructures.

"Over the coming years, new insights will be gained into the complex multifactorial mechanisms underlying human health, with consequences for prevention, early detection, treatment and cure. I see FIMM as being internationally one of the key players with a central role in both developing research infrastructures in Finland, and using the facilities for molecular medicine research on highest level." says Professor Palmgren.

"Professor Juni Palmgren brings invaluable expertise to FIMM and she provides a Nordic and European view to maximise the utilization of Finnish cohorts in genetic and genomic epidemiology", says Professor Jaakko Kaprio, Director of the Academy of Finland Center of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics and at FIMM. "Professor Palmgren's appointment is great news for statistical genetics not only at FIMM, but nation-wide" says Samuli Ripatti, FIMM-EMBL Group Leader.

"There have previously been two other FiDiPro appointments at FIMM, one for Professor Joseph D. Terwilliger (2007-2010) in statistical genetics and another one for Professor Jonathan K.C. Knowles (2010-2014) in personalized medicine. The appointment of Professor Juni Palmgren provides a perfect complementarity with the other FiDiPro appointments and strengthens the ability of FIMM to advance human genomics research" says Professor Olli Kallioniemi, Director of FIMM. "Her experience in infrastructure development will also be invaluable for FIMM, where the planning of four international ESFRI infrastructure programmes (BBMRI, ELIXIR, EATRIS, EU-OPENSCREEN) is currently ongoing."