Pirkko Pussinen MSc, PhD

Pirkko Pussinen graduated from the University of Helsinki, Finland, as a biochemist (MSc) in 1993 and defended her PhD thesis on high density lipoprotein (HDL) metabolism in 1997. After post-doctoral work at the Institute of Medical Biochemistry, Karl Franzens University, Graz, Austria, she started her research at the Institute of Dentistry, University of Helsinki. She has held the positions of Academy post-doctoral researcher and research fellow. She is an Adjunct Professor of Medical Biochemistry and a Principal Investigator in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki.

Her research group has been studying the association of periodontitis and cardiometabolic disorders since 2002. The research is translational dentistry with the focus on oral microbiota, bacterial virulence factors and systemic antibody response. She has published over 120 scientific original and review articles in international journal and supervised 10 PhD theses.