Speaker presentations

Juhana Frösén, Professor of Neurosurgery at Tampere University and University Hospital has studied the vascular biology of vessel remodeling for more than 25-years, translating this knowledge into major advances in our understanding of aneurysm formation, growth, and eventual rupture, as well as the formation, growth, and rupture of brain AVMs (arteriovenousmalformations). Prof. Frösen is most known for his work on the pathology of the intracranial aneurysm wall, and the association of aneurysm wall remodeling with inflammation and flow conditions. Prof. Frösén develops pharmaceutical therapy for intracranial aneurysms and bAVMs, in addition to treating these diseases microsurgically.

Together with a multidisciplinary team at the Tampere University, Prof. Frösén aims to develop data-driven and knowledge-driven decision support tools to help patients with intracranial aneurysms, bAVMs, or other cerebrovascular pathologies with hemorrhagic potential, to make informed decisions that are best for them.

In addition to working on improving predictive diagnostics, patient-centered decision-support tools, and the treatments of neurosurgical disease, developing the training of the next generation of neurosurgeons is close to the heart of Prof. Frösén.

Jaakko Kaprio, M.D., Ph.D. is a Research Director at the Institute for Molecular Medicine FIMM, University of Helsinki and was Professor of Genetic Epidemiology, University of Helsinki, Finland from 2001 until mandatory retirement in April 2020. He held a five-year research professorship fully funded by the Academy of Finland from 2013 to 2017. The Academy Professorship research theme was on genetics, epigenetics and epidemiology of smoking and nicotine dependence. He was Director of FIMM from Oct 1, 2015 to January 31, 2018; FIMM is an EMBL-associated biomedical research institute focusing on personalized cancer therapies, large-scale genetics studies (such as FinnGen) and use of AI in digital pathology.

Dr. Kaprio has worked in genetic epidemiology with a focus on risk factors of non-communicable disease, especially smoking and alcohol use and dependence. He has worked with the Finnish Twin Cohort studies since 1976, and with other population-based samples in Finland. He has engaged in extensive international collaborations, including multiple NIH and EU funded projects. He has served as President of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco European chapter, as President of the Behavior Genetics Association and as President of the International Society for Twin Studies. He has been active in cancer and tobacco-related NGOs in Finland. He has supervised 55 PhD students, and published over 1500 peer-reviewed articles.

Dr. Ivan Radovanovic is an open vascular neurosurgeon, and a professor and research scientist at the Krembil Institute at Toronto University. His clinical interests include the treatment of cerebrovascular pathologies with hemorrhagic potential, and his research activities also include the study of the pathological mechanisms driving these diseases. His research group has made fundamental discoveries on the pathogenesis of brain AVMs, opening new possibilities for drug therapy of these lesions.

Mark van Gils is Professor of Digital Healthcare, leading the research group Decision Support for Health, at Tampere University and Adjunct Professor in physiological signal processing at Aalto University. Activities in his over 25-year career in health data analysis have ranged from AI-driven patient monitoring in critical care to preventive approaches during daily living. He has special interest in data-driven approaches that take into account real-life challenges, such as dealing with imperfect data, heterogeneity of data sources, and ambiguity in outcomes. He has worked tightly with renowned university hospitals and health tech companies, and he has obtained extensive experience in carrying out leading roles, including coordination, in multi-disciplinary international research consortia, such as in EU projects.