Kirsi Pietilainen

KP received her Master of Science in Nutrition with honors from the University of Helsinki in 1994, her MD in 2001, and her PhD in Medicine in 2005. In 2012, she became a Specialist in Internal Medicine and was appointed as rank #1 to the University of Helsinki's first prestigious tenure track program. She was promoted to Professor in Clinical Metabolism in 2017. Currently, KP leads the Obesity Research Unit and serves as Programme Director of the Research Programme for Clinical and Molecular Metabolism at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki. 

KP is also a chief physician overseeing obesity treatment at Helsinki University Hospital. She has served as principal investigator in 20 international trials on obesity and diabetes, and supervised eight completed PhD projects. She has published over 230 peer-reviewed original articles and several review articles and book chapters. 

KP chairs the Finnish national obesity treatment guidelines and serves as President of the Finnish Association for Obesity Doctors. She is also a past President of the Finnish Association for the Study of Obesity (FASO), highlighting her influential role in shaping obesity research and treatment in Finland.