THL is a governmental research institution under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland. Among other tasks it serves as a national statutory authority on health and social welfare registries. THL and its predecessors have a decades-long tradition in conducting population health surveys and in studying risk factors of chronic non-communicable and mental disorders. Currently THL has approximately 950 employees, of whom 26% have a doctorate. Of the funding, 27% comes through external grants.

THL has a research programme on developmental origins of health and disease and has run cohorts of adults born preterm since 2003. Of the RECAP participating cohorts, THL is responsible for Helsinki Study of Very Low Birth Weight Adults, the ESTER Preterm Birth Study, and for data in Finnish national registers. THL participates in most RECAP work packages and serves as a leader of WP8.