Board member and president in The Finnish Society of Contact Lenses, 1986-1994
Vice president in the Association of Medical Contact Lens and Optics (Finland) 1995-1997
Finnish representative in ECLSO, 1993-1996
Bord member and president, Finnish Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (FSCRS), 2002-2006
Vice president in the Finnish Society of Ophthalmologists, 1997-1999
Research topics: Main topic of research has been myopia, from 1980 and continuing. Other research topics: gerontological ophthalmology, genetics of refraction, cataract surgery, tamsulosin, epidemic nephropathy, intraocular lenses, glaucoma.
More than a hundred scientific publications, numerous congress presentations.
Invited participants in the joint meeting with WHO and Brian Holden Vision institute in Sidney in 2015. The WHO report: “The Impact of Myopia and High Myopia”
Editorial board member of Acta Ophthalmologica
Reviewer in several ophthalmological journals
Member of the CREAM consortium (genetic studies of myopia)
Member of CRAM kids (international consortium to study childhood myopia)
Member of MRC consortium (project which aims, using artificial intelligence/machine learning models, to predict progression of myopia)
Advisory Board member Santen EMEA (atropine treatment)
Several reviews and statements of the medical theses and acting as an opponent in dissertations
Statements on applicants for a docent’s degree, and statements on international scholarships.
Prof. Olavi Pärssinen MD, PhD
MD, University of Helsinki, Finland 1971
Specialist in ophthalmology, University of Tampere Finland 1977
PhD, University of Tampere Finland, 1986, thesis: “The wearing of spectacles and
occurrence of myopia”
Adjunct professor, University of Turku Finland, 1994
Chief ophthalmologist, Ophthalmic department Hospital Kristinestad, Finland,1977-1979
Ophthalmologist, Central hospital of Central Finland, Jyväskylä, Finland 1979-1995
Chief ophthalmologist, Central hospital of Central Finland, Jyväskylä, Finland 1996-2010
Researcher, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Finland from 1980-2010, and senior researcher from 2010 and continuing.
Private practice and partner in companies doing ophthalmic surgery and cataract and refractive surgery, Jyväskylä, Finland, 1988-2010