Jaakko Kaprio

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Jaakko Kaprio

Research Director

 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3716-2455

  • PL 20 (Tukholmankatu 8)

    00014

    Finland

  • Finland

1974 …2025

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Description of research and teaching

Dr. Kaprio has worked in epidemiology, in particular genetic epidemiology. His central interests have been in the study of adult chronic disease and the development of their behavioral risk factors with a focus on addictions and metabolic conditions. In particular genetic and environmental factors affecting smoking, alcohol use, physical inactivity, sleep and obesity have been studied using twin, family and molecular genetic approaches. 

He has worked with the Finnish Cohort studies since 1976, and has been responsible for a steady expansion of the included cohorts and very extensive phenotyping through repeated questionnaire and interview surveys, biosample collections and record-linkage to national medical registries. He is an internationally recognized expert in epidemiology and twin studies with over 1100 original scientific publications. He has been cited some 60,000 times (WoS 6/2019) and has a H-index of 114 (6/2019). 

He has had continuous NIH funding for the past 25 years and was Director of the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics (2007-2011). He has received several international science awards and he has been President of the International Society for Twin Studies,  President of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco European chapter, and President of the Behavior Genetics Association. He has supervised  51 PhD students and received the Maud Kuistila award for excellence in doctoral training. He has received two honorary doctorates, one from the University of Southern Denmark, and the other from the University of Jyväskylä in 2019.  He held an Academy of Finland professorship for 2013-2017.

Education information

Jaakko Kaprio, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at the University of Helsinki, Finland and Research Professor in Behavioral Genetics at the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki. He graduated from medical school (University of Helsinki) in 1976, and defended his PhD in Epidemiology in 1984. He has trained abroad at the University of Southern California, Indiana University and University of Michigan in 1987-1989.

External positions

Johtoryhmän jäsen, Biokeskus Suomi - Biocenter Finland

1 Jan 2016 → …

Tieteelliseettisen ryhmän jäsen, Helsingin Biopankki

Fields of Science

  • 3141 Health care science
  • 3142 Public health care science, environmental and occupational health
  • twin study
  • 3112 Neurosciences
  • addiction
  • tobacco dependence

International and National Collaboration

Publications and projects within past five years.
Explore network further

  • A population-specific HTR2B stop codon predisposes to severe impulsivity

    Bevilacqua, L., Doly, S., Kaprio, J., Yuan, Q., Tikkanen, R., Paunio, T., Zhou, Z., Wedenoja, J., Maroteaux, L., Diaz, S., Belmer, A., Hodgkinson, C. A., Dell'Osso, L., Suvisaari, J., Coccaro, E., Rose, R. J., Peltonen, L., Virkkunen, M. & Goldman, D., 2010, In: Nature. 468, 7327 , p. 1061-U460 8 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

  • Genome-wide meta-analyses identify multiple loci associated with smoking behavior

    Furberg, H., Kim, Y., Dackor, J., Boerwinkle, E., Franceschini, N., Ardissino, D., Bernardinelli, L., Mannucci, P. M., Mauri, F., Merlini, P. A., Absher, D., Assimes, T. L., Fortmann, S. P., Iribarren, C., Knowles, J. W., Quertermous, T., Ferrucci, L., Tanaka, T., Bis, J. C. & Furberg, C. D. & 96 others, Haritunians, T., McKnight, B., Psaty, B. M., Taylor, K. D., Thacker, E. L., Almgren, P., Groop, L., Ladenvall, C., Boehnke, M., Jackson, A. U., Mohlke, K. L., Stringham, H. M., Tuomilehto, J., Benjamin, E. J., Hwang, S.-J., Levy, D., Preis, S. R., Vasan, R. S., Duan, J., Gejman, P. V., Levinson, D. F., Sanders, A. R., Shi, J., Lips, E. H., Mckay, J. D., Agudo, A., Barzan, L., Bencko, V., Benhamou, S., Castellsague, X., Canova, C., Conway, D. I., Fabianova, E., Foretova, L., Janout, V., Healy, C. M., Holcatova, I., Kjaerheim, K., Lagiou, P., Lissowska, J., Lowry, R., Macfarlane, T. V., Mates, D., Richiardi, L., Rudnai, P., Szeszenia-Dabrowska, N., Zaridze, D., Znaor, A., Lathrop, M., Brennan, P., Bandinelli, S., Frayling, T. M., Guralnik, J. M., Milaneschi, Y., Perry, J. R. B., Altshuler, D., Elosua, R., Kathiresan, S., Lucas, G., Melander, O., O'Donnell, C. J., Salomaa, V., Schwartz, S. M., Voight, B. F., Penninx, B. W., Smit, J. H., Vogelzangs, N., Boomsma, D. I., de Geus, E. J. C., Vink, J. M., Willemsen, G., Chanock, S. J., Gu, F., Hankinson, S. E., Hunter, D. J., Hofman, A., Tiemeier, H., Uitterlinden, A. G., van Duijn, C. M., Walter, S., Chasman, D. I., Everett, B. M., Pare, G., Ridker, P. M., Li, M. D., Maes, H. H., Audrain-McGovern, J., Posthuma, D., Thornton, L. M., Lerman, C., Kaprio, J., Rose, J. E., Ioannidis, J. P. A., Kraft, P., Lin, D.-Y. & Sullivan, P. F., 2010, In: Nature Genetics. 42, p. 441-447 8 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

  • Sequence variants at CHRNB3-CHRNA6 and CYP2A6 affect smoking behavior

    Thorgeirsson, T. E., Gudbjartsson, D. F., Surakka, I. L., Vink, J. M., Amin, N., Geller, F., Sulem, P., Rafnar, T., Esko, T., Walter, S., Gieger, C., Rawal, R., Mangino, M., Prokopenko, I., Maegi, R., Keskitalo, K., Gudjonsdottir, I. H., Gretarsdottir, S., Stefansson, H. & Thompson, J. R. & 31 others, Aulchenko, Y. S., Nelis, M., Aben, K. K., den Heijer, M., Dirksen, A., Ashraf, H., Soranzo, N., Valdes, A. M., Steves, C., Uitterlinden, A. G., Hofman, A., Toenjes, A., Kovacs, P., Hottenga, J. J., Willemsen, G., Vogelzangs, N., Doering, A., Dahmen, N., Nitz, B., Pergadia, M. L., Saez, B., De Diego, V., Lezcano, V., Garcia-Prats, M. D., Ripatti, S. O., Perola, M., Kettunen, J., Shen, H.-Y., Kaprio, J., Palotie, L. & ENGAGE Consortium, 2010, In: Nature Genetics. 42, p. 448-453 6 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

  • Personality Traits and Cancer Risk and Survival Based on Finnish and Swedish Registry Data

    Nakaya, N., Bidstrup, P. E., Saito-Nakaya, K., Frederiksen, K., Koskenvuo, M., Pukkala, E., Kaprio, J., Floderus, B., Uchitomi, Y. & Johansen, C., 2010, In: American Journal of Epidemiology. 172, 4, p. 377-385 9 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

  • Heritability and Mortality Risk of Insomnia-Related Symptoms: A Genetic Epidemiologic Study in a Population-Based Twin Cohort

    Hublin, C., Partinen, M., Koskenvuo, M. & Kaprio, J., 2011, In: Sleep. 34, 7, p. 957-964 8 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

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