Merja Kallio

Merja Kallio’s special expertise and area of interest are the treatment of brain tumors and the symptoms caused by them, treatment of symptoms, rehabilitation and social medical perspectives; in addition, the neurological problems of cancer patients. 

Since she has been involved in the follow-up of brain tumor patients for over 30 years, she has become familiar with brain tumor treatments and their side effects. In the 1990s, she was involved in starting and implementing the BNCT (boron neutron capture) experimental radiotherapy project in Helsinki University Hospital. 

Her academic dissertation was made on how brain tumors appear in the population, that is, on the epidemiology of brain tumors. Around the time of writing his dissertation, she started a follow-up outpatient clinic for brain tumor patients at the HYKS Neurology clinic in Meilahti. The polyclinic had hundreds of brain tumor patients under follow-up, in 2017 about 400. In addition to clinical patient work, she participated in weekly multidisciplinary brain tumor meetings and various domestic and international brain tumor conferences. 

At the follow-up clinic, the spectrum of symptoms of brain damage related to the tumor is well displayed. The collaboration with neuropsychologists has led to a special interest and expertise in clinical neurocognition. This means so-called higher brain activity such as executive functions ( a.o control of behavior and actions), memory and vigilance upholding, etc. 

After completing the medical licensing exams in the USA in the early 2000s, Kallio spent a year at MD Andersson Cancer Hospital, Houston, Texas in 2006-2007 as a clinical fellow in neuro-oncology, i.e. subspecializing in neuro-oncology. In that context, she started getting to know the neurological problems of cancer patients, i.e. other than brain tumor patients, which was an important patient group for the fellow as a neuro-oncologist. In 2016-2017, she spent about a year at Validia Kuntoutus Oy as a brain injury rehabilitation doctor. In that context familiarization with social medicine and rehabilitation aspects related to brain damage deepened. In addition to patient work, Kallio lectures and educates to some extent and has been creating an information website for brain tumor patients (oligodendroglioma.com).