Director of the Service Centre of Kuopio University Hospital (Director of KUH Neurocentre), Professor Pekka Jäkälä is a member of Neurocenter Finland steering group and Kuopio Brain & Mind regional steering group He is actively influencing and enabling the implementation of brain health research prerequisites at the national and regional level. “Better understanding about the mechanisms of cryptogenic stroke in the adults under 50 years of age,” describes Pekka and highlights SECRETO and StokeData as his key research collaboration projects.

SECRETO –project (2015–2023) is a prospective international multicenter case-control study of young adults aged 18–49 years presenting with an imaging-positive cryptogenic ischemic stroke after standardized work-up. The aim is to improve diagnostic strategies, prevention, and knowledge of the prognosis of this understudied condition. The research is carried out in the neurology and cardiology departments at the Finnish university hospitals in collaboration with HUSLAB and FIMM. Also, a total of 15 hospitals abroad are joining as collaborating partners. The SECRETO project was also part of a pilot project on clinical research and treatment at the Neurocenter Finland, funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
For more information about the SECRETO project please visit: https://neurocenterfinland.fi/en/why-under-50-year-olds-experience-strokes-a-study-investigates-the-underlying-reasons/

The goals of the StrokeData consortium program (2020–2022) are to co-create and validate a patient solution for stroke prevention and a decision support system to improve stroke diagnosis, as well as to develop a system dynamic model for predictive impact evaluation of the diagnostics of stroke cases. The program is funded by Business Finland. The program focuses on the development of novel business models to help companies and hospitals to take data-enabled stroke prevention and diagnostics solutions to selected foreign markets. The consortium includes the University of Oulu as the responsible party, as well as VTT, Oulu University Hospital, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio University Hospital, Bittium, Innokas Medical, Tieto, Bitfactor, Everon, Vetrea, Uros, Invenco, Predicell, and Neurocenter Finland, who has served in an expert role in the program. For more information please visit: https://www.strokedataproject.com/

For more infromation about stroke research and Cerebrovascular Disorders and Stroke research group please visit: https://sites.uef.fi/neuro/cerebrovascular-disorders-and-stroke/