May 1, a traditional national holiday all over the world and an official flag day in Finland, turned out to be a real treat for the FICEBO, as Jarkko Jokihaara was appointed as a tenure-track Associate Professor of Hand Surgery by the Tampere University on this very day!
We – as the FICEBO team – are obviously happy and proud to the moon and back about Jarkko’s achievement: The 1st-ever chair holder of this relatively young medical discipline (hand surgery) in Finland comes from our inner circle! And few would contest that it could not have been awarded to a nicer person.
I (Teppo Järvinen) have known Jarkko since 2000 when we met at a molecular biology course led by Howy Jacobs, a soon-to-be appointed Academy Professor and the most prolific medical scientist in Tampere, our hometown at the time. I immediately noticed that Jarkko is an exceptionally bright young medical student (who even tried to help me to complete the course – but the rescue operation failed). It didn’t take us long to realize that we get along particularly well and quite soon I found myself supervising Jarkko’s PhD thesis.
After completing this PhD, Jarkko spent three years (2008-2010) as a postdoc at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) with professors Heather McKay and Karim Khan (Centre for Hip Health and Mobility). Coincidentally, my own fellowship year took place in 2008-09 in Vancouver General Hospital and Jarkko and his lovely wife were of enormous help over that period of time.
Soon after his arrival from the postdoc tenure, Jarkko started his surgical residency. Jarkko completed his training in 2016 and has since acted as clinical lecturer of hand surgery until now.
Obviously, Jarkko has been busy producing cutting-edge science. What has amazed us all is that he has also found time to complete diploma in clinical epidemiology from McMaster University in Canada. But above all, we have learnt to know Jarkko as the most kind, trustworthy and helpful colleague and a true friend who always seems to find the right words for all different occasion!
FICEBO congratulates Jarkko from the bottom of our ♥♥♥♥♥!
