Presented by Jaakko Tuomilehto, MD, MPolSc, PhD, Distinguished Professor, professor emeritus of public health, University of Helsinki, Finland, visiting scientist, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, and visiting professor, National School of Public Health, Madrid, Spain. 

Jaakko Tuomilehto is Professor Emeritus of Public Health of the University of Helsinki, Finland. His research interests include the epidemiology and prevention of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia. He has coordinated numerous scientific research projects and contributed to many landmark studies. He was the Principal Investigator of the WHO DIAMOND Project mapping the incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes (T1D) worldwide during the 1990s in >100 countries. He set up the first large study on the epidemiology, genetics, and environmental factors of T1D to discover why Finland has the world’s highest incidence of T1D. He has also participated in research on complications related to T1D, notable the DERI (Diabetes Epidemiology Research International) multinational mortality study.

He has received many prestigious scientific awards, including the American Diabetes Association Kelly West Award on diabetes epidemiology and Harold Rifkin Award on international diabetes work, and awards from the European Association of the Study of Diabetes, UNESCO, American Heart Association, the Swedish Karolinska Institute and the European Society of Cardiology Geoffrey Rose Award.

He has published over 1900 scientific peer-reviewed publications and is the most cited author worldwide (Google Scholar) in four fields: epidemiology, public health, diabetes and cardiovascular disease with >412,000 citations. His h-index is 212.

The 2022 Fall Seminar Series honors the late Dr. Ronald LaPorte, an emeritus professor of Epidemiology who had a unique and lasting impact on epidemiology and beyond. From pioneering research of Type 1 Diabetes and physical activity, his influence spread internationally with the establishment of an internet-based 'supercourse' in public health, available to all free of charge, and the development of the Modern Library of Alexandria. 

His work embraced many other topics along the way including care for the homeless and the study of geoglyphs from space. He was a faculty member in the Department of Epidemiology for 35 years and trained 35 PhD students who now hold many leadership positions in academia, industry and the government.