Dr Ulrich Tacke

Born 1949 in West-Germany. After medical training at the Universität of Kiel (W-Germany) emigration to Finland, which is wife’s home-country. 1984 doctoral thesis (PhD), University of Kuopio and during the following years post doctoral training in France (CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette) and in the US (Stanford Medical School and Vanderbilt University Medical Center). Specialist in Clinical Pharmacology (1989) and Psychiatry (1994). 1997-1998 MSc-course in Clinical and Public Health Aspects of Addiction (National Addiction Centre and Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, University of London). From 1998 to 2007 chief physician of the Addiction Psychiatry Unit at the Kuopio University Hospital. Presently, senior lecturer in addiction medicine (University of Eastern Finland) and senior consultant (Dept. of Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital). Member of the national board for specialist training in addiction medicine (examiner 2010-2011), co-author of the Finnish guidelines for the treatment of drug addiction.

Main research interests: Outcome of addiction-treatment  (e.g. application of the Finnish version of the Treatment Outcome Profile TOP) and treatment compliance-monitoring in opioid maintenance treatment. Future research plans are related to monitoring of adherence to drug treatment in real-time and to increasing safety of methadone-maintenance treatment.