Team of researchers | Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County

Silja Kosola

I am Silja Kosola, a Specialist in General Medicine, Associate Professor in Youth Medicine, and Research Director at the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County. I supervise doctoral researchers and serve as the Primary Investigator for the SOTEPALA research project.

Sanna Salonen

I am Sanna Salonen, a doctor specialising in general medicine and a doctoral researcher in the SOTEPALA project. In my dissertation, I examine the focus of statutory school health examinations carried out by a doctor and pupils and guardians’ experiences of these examinations.

Jenni Miettinen

I am postdoctoral researcher Jenni Miettinen, MD, specialist generalist and adolescent medicine specialist, and the mother of three schoolchildren. In addition to research, I work in student health care and in the private sector and seek different ways of helping schoolchildren with changes that occur during adolescence. Through research, we all can participate and influence tomorrow’s well-being – join us!

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Satu Kumpulainen

I am a Doctor of Psychology and a postdoctoral researcher in the SOTEPALA research project. In SOTEPALA, I study the impact of socioeconomic factors of residential areas on the use of social and health care services by children and young people.

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Iiris Hörhammer

I am Iiris Hörhammer (D.Sc. (Tech.), M.Sc. (Econ.)), and I am a Doctor of Industrial Engineering and Management in health care from Aalto University. I have more than 10 years of experience in researching the cost-effectiveness of social welfare and health care services. My research focuses on the sustainable use of information technology in social welfare and health care services. In SOTEPALA, I study the allocation and costs of social welfare and health care service use among schoolchildren.

Johanna Sergejeff

I am Johanna Sergejeff and work as a doctoral researcher in the Faculty of Education and Psychology at the University of Jyväskylä, as part of the Educa Flagship research consortium. My dissertation discusses the prevalence of absences from school among pupils in comprehensive education, factors affecting the variation in absences and the connection between absences and learning basic skills.

Lena Thorn

I am Lena Thorn, an associate professor of general practice, Head Physician at the University of Helsinki and HUS primary health care unit.  I work as a dissertation supervisor and scientific expert in the project.

Maria Tapola-Haapala

I'm a licensed social worker. I hold a Doctorate in Social Sciences and work as an Adjunct Professor of Social Work. I work as a researcher in the Wellbeing Services County of Päijät-Häme on the Social Welfare Guidelines sub-project, which explores how evidence-based recommendations can be integrated into social services. In SOTEPALA, my focus is on analyzing multiprofessional collaboration.

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Johanna Hela

I'm a doctoral candidate in social sciences and a licensed social worker. Within SOTEPALA, I'm part of a team that studies the factors that support—or hinder—collaboration between professionals.

Elina Aaltio

I hold a Doctorate in Social Sciences and work as a researcher at Socca, the Centre of Expertise on Social Welfare in Uusimaa. As part of the SOTEPALA project, I study multi-professional cooperation between social workers, teachers, and student welfare staff, using interview data gathered from these professionals.

Outi Alakärppä

My name is Outi Alakärppä. I hold a Doctorate in Education and work as a researcher at Socca, the Centre of Expertise on Social Welfare in Uusimaa. As part of the SOTEPALA project, I study multi-professional collaboration between social workers, teachers, and student welfare staff.

Saija Numari

I am Saija Numari, and I work as an expert in the SOTEPALA research project and as a researcher at the Wellbeing Services County of Central Uusimaa.