About me
My research interests include causes, consequences, and treatment of substance use disorders and related psychopathology. I am currently involved in a consortium project investigating the prevalence of substance use disorders in Nordic prison populations (https://www.prisud.no/). My second line of research focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of psychological and pharmacological substance use disorder treatments in Swedish correctional services, including prison, probation and forensic psychiatric settings. This research is funded by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare.
Research description
Selected Publications
Association of selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) treatment with acute substance misuse outcomes. Virtanen S, Lagerberg T, Khemiri L, Suvisaari J, Larsson H, Lichtenstein P, Chang Z, Latvala A. Addiction 2022 Jan;117(1):234-242
Association of Tourette Syndrome and Chronic Tic Disorder With Subsequent Risk of Alcohol- or Drug-Related Disorders, Criminal Convictions, and Death: A Population-Based Family Study. Virtanen S, Sidorchuk A, Fernández de la Cruz L, Brander G, Lichtenstein P, Latvala A, Mataix-Cols D. Biol Psychiatry 2021 02;89(4):407-414
Longitudinal Associations of Childhood Internalizing Psychopathology With Substance Misuse: A Register-Based Twin and Sibling Study. Virtanen S, Kuja-Halkola R, Lundström S, D'Onofrio BM, Larsson H, Suvisaari J, Mataix-Cols D, Lichtenstein P, Latvala A. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2021 05;60(5):593-603
Birth cohort effects on the quantity and heritability of alcohol consumption in adulthood: a Finnish longitudinal twin study. Virtanen S, Kaprio J, Viken R, Rose RJ, Latvala A. Addiction 2019 05;114(5):836-846
Education
PhD in Psychology, University of Helsinki (2021)
MA in Psychology, University of Helsinki (2018)
MSSc in Economic and Social History, University of Helsinki (2017)
BSSc in Economic and Social History, minor in Psychology, University of Helsinki (2015)
Academic honours, awards and prizes
Early Career Excellence Award, European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (2022)
Postdoc grant, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (2022)
Finalist for the title of "Young Epidemiologist of the Year", Finnish Epidemiology Society (2021)
Studentship (salaried position) at the Doctoral Programme in Population Health, University of Helsinki (2020)