Figures & data
About Dr Vesikari Dr Timo Vesikari obtained his MD and PhD in Medical Sciences from University of Helsinki in Finland in 1969 and 1972, respectively. From 1972-1975 he performed postdoctoral studies in New York at Bellevue Hospital and Roosevelt Hospital.
His appointments at University of Tampere include Professor of Pediatrics in 1981-7 and Professor of Virology in 1991-2012, and he was Director of its Medical School in 1995-2001, where he serves as Director of the Vaccine Research Center. Dr Vesikari worked with the Diarrheal Disease Control Program of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1987-90 and subsequently served on WHO Steering Committees on Diarrheal Disease Vaccines and on Epidemiology and Field Research.
Dr. Vesikari's research interest has focused on vaccine studies since the first rubella vaccine trial in Finland in 1968. From the 1980's to present he performed research on varicella vaccines, but his major interest over the past 30 years has been rotavirus diarrhea and vaccine. He conducted the first clinical trials of live oral rotavirus vaccines in humans in 1982-3, followed by several other rotavirus candidate vaccines. He continued to work with the recent rotavirus vaccines of GSK and Merck, being the principal investigator of the first pediatric trials of Rotarix vaccine and the lead investigator of the Merck's RotaTeq vaccine trial REST, with over 70.000 subjects enrolled in Finland and the US. Dr. Vesikari has conducted clinical trials on many other vaccines for children, including live attenuated and adjuvanted inactivated influenza vaccines, MMRV vaccines, pneumococcal conjugate vaccines and meningococcal vaccines.
During the course of his career Dr Vesikari published about 300 articles in peer-reviewed journals, more than half of which were on diarrheal diseases and rotavirus vaccine. In 2007 Dr Vesikari received the Lancet's “Paper of the Year” award for the publication of the Rotarix and RotaTeq Phase 3 trial data.
Dr Vesikari is an active member of many national and international societies and councils. In 1990 he was Bill Marshall lecturer of the European Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID), and in 2004 organized the ESPID Meeting in Tampere. Dr Vesikari has served on advisory boards of several companies, including Merck, GSK, Sanofi Pasteur, Novartis and MedImmune. He has also helped to organize several European Expert Meetings on Rotavirus Vaccination, and is regularly invited to present at national and international vaccine conferences.
