Eeva Jalavisto (until 1934 Elmgren; 21 March 1909 – 12 June 1966) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

and an influential researcher and policy maker in the areas of health and social care of the elderly as well as wider gerontology.

Early life and education

Born in

Kerimäki Kerimäki is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with the town of Savonlinna on January 1, 2013. It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Southern Savonia region. The municipality was unilingually Finni ...

to Chief Physician Dr and Ines Meurman, Eeva Elmgren completed her secondary education at the Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu, graduating in 1927. She then followed her father into medicine, graduating from

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

medical school as early as in 1931, and going on to obtain her Licentiate as well as

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in medicine and surgery in 1937.

Career

Jalavisto worked at the University of Helsinki Institute of Physiology from 1933, reaching the rank of

Docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de con ...

in 1941, and that of Professor in 1947. She was a board member of the Finnish Medical Society, ''Duodecim'', from 1947 to 1950. She was also active in physiology and gerontology associations, serving as a co-founder, secretary and later chair of the Finnish Society of Gerontology (''Societas Gerontologica Fennica''), board member of the

International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics The International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG), formerly the International Association of Gerontological Societies is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that promotes gerontological research and training, and represents gero ...

, and member of the Nordic Gerontology Association. From 1949 to 1953, Jalavisto chaired the . She undertook research visits to Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom and the US from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Together with her fellow physiologist , she named erythropoietin (also known as EPO).

Death

Eeva Jalavisto died following a protracted illness, aged 57.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jalavisto, Eeva Finnish physiologists Gerontologists University of Helsinki alumni Academic staff of the University of Helsinki 1909 births 1966 deaths People from Kerimäki