I am postdoctoral researcher at the Leiden University in the Department of Clinical Psychology in the Netherlands. I am also affiliated to the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC) and to the BioClock Consortium. My current research is focused on the evaluation of the neural mechanisms of light therapy in depression using advanced structural and functional neuroimaging techniques. 

Previously I was a PostDoc at the University of Zurich in the research group of the Clinic for Neuroradiology at the University Hospital Zürich. With a doubleaffiliation to the University Department of Geriatric Medicine FELIX PLATTER, Basel, Switzerland. We evaluated to which extent the brain of professional elderly musicians is protected against neurodegeneration and try to detect MRI based predictors to support geriatricians in their diagnosis process of mild cognitive impairment. 

I wrote my doctoral thesis in the research group headed by Prof. Dr. Kathrin Koch and graduated at the Graduate school of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. In my PhD study I was interested in the cortical function and structure of THE OBSESSED BRAIN by evaluating patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

I obtained my diploma degree (~M.Sc.) in psychology at the Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden under the supervision of Dr. Lars Pieper, and Prof. Dr. habil. Hans-Ulrich Wittchen. In my thesis I investigated the protective factors which support caregivers of patients with multiple sclerosis.

For more information you can also visit my profiles on Linkedin, Research Gate, Google Scholar .