Simo Saarakkala

Background

About Simo Saarakkala

Simo Saarakkala currently acts as Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Head of the Research Unit of Health Sciences and Technology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Finland. He is also a Scientific Director of the Infotech Oulu Focus Institute, University of Oulu, Finland. Prof. Saarakkala has published over 230 peer-reviewed scientific articles on different aspects of musculoskeletal imaging and biomechanics, particularly focusing on articular cartilage, subchondral bone, meniscus and osteoarthritis. He currently serves as Associate Editor of Osteoarthritis and Cartilage Open journal (official open access journal of the Osteoarthritis Research Society International) and is regularly reviewing international grant applications. He has been a visiting scientist at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Hong Kong, China) and University of Auckland (New Zealand). Prof. Saarakkala is an internationally recognized researcher in the field of osteoarthritis imaging and diagnostics, regularly giving invited talks at several international research conferences and symposiums. He is an active member of OARSI (Osteoarthritis Research Society International; and ORS (Orthopaedic Research Society; He has been the primary supervisor of several undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as the leader of national and European-level research projects. He has h-index of 51 and his publications have been cited over 8400 times (Google Scholar). Prof. Saarakkala's group is focusing on diagnostics and imaging of osteoarthritis at different levels, i.e. from tissue and cell level up to the clinical level. The primary goal in his research is to better understand the etiology and progression of osteoarthritis as well as to develop novel methodologies to diagnose the disease at early phase, and predicts its clinical progression, when there would still be treatment options for patients. More info: