Katja is a postdoctoral fellow within the UIC CLEAR Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Tory Eisenlohr-Moul. She is a recipient of the Walter Benjamin Research Fellowship from the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG). Her research centers on 1) the role of the menstrual cycle (and ovarian hormone fluctuations) in psychiatric symptoms and suicidality, 2) executive functioning and cardiac vagal activity as underlying mechanisms of cyclical symptoms, and 3) the reliable and valid assessment of PMS and PMDD.

Katja is currently undergoing clinical training in cognitive behavioral therapy. As part of her clinical training at Heidelberg University Hospital, she gained several years of experience working with pregnant refugees in a refugee center in Heidelberg (Patrick-Henry-Village), Germany. Since 2019, she volunteers as a member of the Clinical Advisory Board at the International Association for Premenstrual Disorders (IAPMD). 

Katja received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Mannheim University in Mannheim, Germany. She received her Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Clinical Psychology at Heidelberg University in Heidelberg, Germany, where she studied the DSM-5 PMDD diagnostic criteria and procedures as well as menstrual cycle-related variations in cognitive and affective functioning and associated changes in heart rate variability in healthy samples. For her doctorate, she was granted a full-time PhD scholarship by the German Cusanuswerk Foundation.