Kari Ilkka Kivirikko#

Born in Helsinki January 2, 1937
Professor Emeritus (fully active)

Education and Professional Experience

• 1960 Medical Doctor, University of Helsinki (M.D.), and Licence to Practice Medicine
• 1963 Doctor of Medical Sciences (Doctoral dissertation), University of Helsinki (Ph.D.)
• 1966 Specialist in Clinical Chemistry
• 1957 - 1963 Assistant, Department of Medical Chemistry, University of Helsinki
• 1965 - 1967 Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia General Hospital (2 years)
• 1967 - 1970 The Laboratory Physician, Clinical Laboratory of the Children's Hospital, University of Helsinki
• 1970 - 1988 Professor and Chairman of Medical Biochemistry, University of Oulu (except 1970 - 1971 and 1976 - 1983, see below)
• 1970 - 1971 Senior Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia General Hospital (14 months)
• 1976 - 1983 Professor of the Academy of Finland (7 years)
• 1977 Visiting Scientist, Department of Biochemistry, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Rutgers Medical School (3 months)
• 1985 - 1990 Vice-Dean, Medical Faculty, University of Oulu
• 1987 - 1996 Visiting Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia (several 2 to 3-month visits)
• 1988 - 2002 Professor of the Academy of Finland
• 1996 - 2000 Adjunct Professor, Center for Gene Therapy, Allegheny University of the Health Sciences/MCP Hahnemann University , Philadelphia (1-month visits in 1996 and 1998)
• 1993 - present Founding Scientist and Scientific Advisor, FibroGen Inc., San Francisco, CA,.
• 2002 - present Professor Emeritus, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Oulu

Honors and Awards

• 1977 The Matti Äyräpää Prize Awarded by the Finnish Medical Society Duodecim
• 1981 One of the 1000 Most-cited Scientists in 1965-78 (E. Garfield, Current Contents, October 12, 1981)
• 1982 The Recognition Award from the Finnish Cultural Foundation
• 1984 The Anders Jahre's Nordic Medical Prize
• 1989 The Pentti Kaitera Prize
• 1989 Professor of the Year (The Finnish Professor Association)
• 1991 The Wihuri International Prize
• 1991 The Meilahti Lecture of 1991, The Meilahti Hospital, University of Helsinki
• 1994 Distinguished Scientist Award, Fifth International Conference on the Molecular Biology and Pathology of Matrix, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
• 1995 The Runeberg's Prize, Finska Läkarsällskapet
• 1999 The Science Prize of the State of Finland (shared with T. Pihlajaniemi and L. Ala-Kokko)
• 1982 - Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
• 1983 - Member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters
• 1986 – Honorary Member of the Finnish Connective Tissue Research Society
• 1989 - Member of Academia Europea (European Academy)
• 1994 - Honorary Member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Main Scientific Advisory Functions (only those extending past 1990):

• 1981 - 1994 Member of the National Institutes of Health (N.I.H.) International Research Fellowship Nominating Committee in Finland
• 1991 - 1994 Chairman
• 1983 - 2002 Director, Collagen Research Unit, University of Oulu
• 1986 - 1993 Member of the Nordic Anders Jahre's Medical Prize Committee (Oslo, Norway)
• 1986 - 2007 Project Leader, Biocenter Oulu
• 1986 - 2002 Member of the Board, Biocenter Oulu
• 1987 - 1994 Member of the Council, the Finnish Medical Foundation
• 1989 - 1993 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board, the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki
• 1992 - 1995 Member of the Grants Committee, the Finnish Diabetes Foundation
• 1994 - 1995 Chairman
• 1989 - 2000 Member of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Council and European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC) (Heidelberg, Germany)
• 1994 - 1996 Chairman of the EMBL Council
• 1994 - 1997First Vice-Chairman of EMBC
• 1994 - 1996 Member of the Board, OuluTech, Oulu, Finland
• 1994 - 1999 Member of the Council, the International Society for Matrix Biology
• 1997 – 2003 Member of the Board, Swedish National Network and Graduate School for Inflammation Research (Lund, Sweden
• 1998 Member of the EMBO panel that evaluated the quality of molecular biology in the laboratories of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Other

• Published more than 300 original articles or reviews in international scientific journals or books (reviews in Finnish or congress abstracts are not included in this number). These papers have received more than 18 000 citations.
• Six patents and several applications pending.
• Invited Active Participant in more than 80 international conferences.
• Participated in 17 Gordon Research Conferences on Collagen (invited 13 times).
• Vice Chair of the Conference in 1999, and Chair of the Conference in 2001.
• The Collagen Research Unit was nominated by the Academy of Finland a National Centre of Excellence for 2000 – 2005.