Professor Outi Vaarala, M.D., Ph.D. is a medical doctor (University of Helsinki) and has a PhD in immunology. Outi Vaarala was appointed as a Professor of Pediatric Immunology, Linkoping University, Sweden, in 2000, and as a Professor of Autoimmune Diseases, Lund University, Sweden, in 2015.
Outi Vaarala started as Executive Vice President, Innovative Medicines Business Division and Research & Development at Orion in 2023 and has been a member of the Orion Executive Management Board from 2020. Vaarala has held the position of Senior Vice President, R&D, 2020-2022, and Vice President of Oncology Research 2019-2020.
Prior to Orion, Vaarala led drug discovery and development from target identification to clinical Phase 2 studies in Respiratory Inflammation and Autoimmunity therapy area, first at AstraZeneca, Sweden, and later at Medimmune/AstraZeneca, USA.

At SHIFT InFlames side event 21.5., Outi Vaarala will talk about What makes a successful R&D Leader.

InFLAMES-lippulaiva on Turun yliopiston ja Åbo Akademin yhteinen hanke, joka hakee syvempää ymmärrystä normaaleista ja väärin kohdistetuista tulehdusreaktioista sekä terveydessä että sairaudessa. Lippulaiva muuttaa immunologisen tutkimuksen ja innovaatiot taloudelliseksi ja yhteiskunnalliseksi voimaannuttamiseksi yhdessä bioteknologia- ja lääkeyritysten kanssa.