Dr Andrea Ganna of the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki – members of EATRIS Finland – and Harvard Medical School was awarded the Leena Peltonen Prize by the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG). The prize is awarded to an outstanding young researcher in the field of human genetics, and honours the memory of Dr. Leena Peltonen, a world-renowned human geneticist from Finland.
Andrea Ganna started as a FIMM-EMBL group leader at the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), the University of Helsinki in 2019. He did his post-doc at the Analytical and Translation Genetic Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and his PhD at Karolinska Institute.
Andrea’s cutting-edge work at the interface of epidemiology and genetics, innovative use of registry-based data, and leadership in international efforts such as the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative made him a clear choice.
His research interests focus on the intersection between epidemiology, genetics, and statistics, and to that end, he started the FinRegistry project. FinRegistry uses nationwide registry data to build machine learning models to help better understand and predict the onset of diseases in the Finnish population.
Andrea is the fifth award winner, joining Cecilia Lindgren, Ben Neale, Tuuli Lappalainen and Gosia Trynka. The prize is awarded by the European Society of Human Genetics annually.
“For those of us who worked with and knew Leena and her importance to the founding of FIMM, it is a particularly proud moment that the recipient of this prestigious award for the first time is awarded to a FIMM Group Leader,” said Mark Daly, Director of FIMM.
👉 Find out more about this year’s award here.
👉 Find out more about EATRIS Finland here.
Image credit: FIMM, University of Helsinki
