Eeva Moilanen

At Tampere University I am serving as the Professor of Pharmacology (since 1999) and as the Chair of the Academic Board (Konsistori). I am also the Chair of the Council of the Finnish Union of University Professors.

I am responsible for teaching pharmacology and clinical pharmacology at the Medical Curriculum at Tampere University; in research, I am running The Immunopharmacology Research Group with 20 members affiliated at Tampere University and Tampere University Hospital. I am MD for my first university degree, and had my doctoral (MD,PhD) and post-doctoral education in Finland (at the University of Tampere, in Professor Heikki Vapaatalo’s laboratory) and in U.K. (at the Wellcome Research Laboratories, in Professor Salvador Moncada’s research group).

My research is focusing on the mechanisms of inflammation aiming to identify and validate novel anti-inflammatory mechanisms, treatment targets and molecules especially in (osteo)arthritis and in allergic diseases. Previously, the focus was mainly on the regulation of eicosanoids and in the nitric oxide / iNOS pathway while more recently my interest has turned to wider gene expression signatures characteristic to different phenotypes of inflammation. The most recent research projects aim to understand the role of adipokines as well as MAP kinase / MAP kinase phosphatase pathways in arthritis; and the TRPA1 ion channel mediated signals in the pathogenesis of inflammation and in the inflammatory pain. We are also investigating the low-grade inflammation associated with obesity and its co-morbidities, and dietary and pharmacological means to suppress inflammation to promote metabolically healthier obesity.

I have supervised 29 PhD students (and seven now on-going) and published more than 350 peer-reviewed scientific articles, and edited a couple of textbooks in pharmacology.

I have served full terms as the President of the Federation of European Pharmacological Societies (EPHAR), as a Member of the Executive Committee of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR) and as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI), as well as the Chair of the Finnish Pharmacological Society and the Finnish Osteoarthritis Research Society. For further details, see my CV below.

I am living in Tampere with my husband Teemu Moilanen, orthopedic surgeon and Medical Director at Coxa Hospital for Joint Replacement. I am a mother of three adult sons and have four lovely grandchildren. In the leisure time I enjoy trekking and skiing.