Riittakerttu Kaltiala studied in the University of Tampere and graduated in medicine (MD) in 1989 and social sciences (BSc) in 2000. She became specialist in psychiatry in 1999 and in adolescent psychiatry in 2004, and specialist in forensic psychiatry in University of Turku in 2016. The Finnish medical Association has acknowledged her special competence in adolescent medicine in 2014. She defended her academic dissertation on patients’ experiences of involuntary treatment in 1995 and was nominated adjunct professor in social psychiatry (University of Tampere) in 2000 in adolescent psychiatry (University of Oulu) in 2008 and in forensic psychiatry in 2018 (University of Turku). In 1996-2002 she worked in Tampere School of Public Health as senior assistant professor and later professor of social psychiatry, and as senior consultant in Tampere University Hospital. In 2002 she was appointed as chief psychiatrist in the adolescent forensic unit of Tampere University hospital that opened in 2003. In 2011, leading a nationally centralized gender identity service for minors was included in her responsibilities as chief psychiatrist. In 2005-2023 she was also the director of the Department of Adolescent Psychiatry, comprising the specialist level adolescent psychiatric services and the tertiary level adolescent forensic service and gender identity service for minors in Tampere University Hospital. She is the professor of adolescent psychiatry in the University of Tampere since 2009 and has also the responsibility for specialist training in forensic psychiatry. Her research interests focus on aggression and violence in adolescent mental disorders; gender identity and mental health in adolescence; and adolescent mental health epidemiology and health services research, particularly involuntary treatment and use of coercion in psychiatric care. She participates actively in a number of service development and health policy activities in the fields of conduct disorders and violence as well as gender identity issues on national and international levels.