Let me quickly catch you up on how this Wisconsin gal ended up working as a scientist in Berlin... (any other cheeseheads out there?!)

My path was perhaps more roundabout than other scientific colleagues, and sometimes, I felt like I was on a bit of a wild ride without a clear direction. But now, in retrospect, it all seems to fit together quite nicely.

My scientific path formally kicked off with an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from @UWMadison. I spent quite a bit of time working in a virology/oncology lab studying viral proteins of the Epstein-Barr virus which have been implicated in cancers such as Burkitt Lymphoma.

I took some German classes in high school and decided to pursue a double major in German. I found my German language courses to be a nice counterbalance to the organic chemistry and biochemistry lab classes. Plus, I had a perfect excuse to eat Haribo and RitterSport all day.

I spent a semester studying at the @UniBonn where I really buckled down on the German language. I absolutely fell in love with Germany and took every opportunity I could to tour the country on the weekends.

If I remember right, it was just after the Bonn trip that I first heard the term "epidemiologist". Do you know what epidemiologists study?

Fast forward a few years, and I found myself back in Germany! I had moved on from the old capital Bonn to the new capital Berlin to pursue my Master's degree in Public Health. I especially enjoyed my epidemiology and biostatistics coursework. My thesis focused on HIV in Germany.

It took me a while after the Master's to decide that I wanted to pursue a PhD & even longer to find the right group b/c I wanted to stay in Berlin. I am so fortunate to have stumbled upon a great group at the Center for Stroke Research. We proposed a project & I was funded!

My work at the Stroke Center allowed me to combine my laboratory & theoretical knowledge from biochemistry with my interest in quantitative research methods to tackle some interesting clinical epidemiology questions. More on my PhD work later in the week...

My most recent move was just a hop, skip, and a jump over to the Institute of Public Health also at the Charité. My current research group focuses on developing and applying modern epidemiological methods, mostly in the context of neurovascular disease.

My Institute is heavily involved in teaching in our Public Health and Epidemiology Master's programs. Though it is a lot of work, this is one of my favorite parts of the job. Teaching is tough but incredibly rewarding! A new challenge this year: online courses starting Apr. 20th!

I'm a firm believer in the importance of public health education outside the classroom and an advocate for responsible, clear #scicomm, as are many in the @realscientists crew! I think there are several lessons (good and bad) to be learned from the ongoing pandemic.

One positive lesson? People now seem to know that I am not a skin doctor, nor do I study insects, or the history of words! But not all epidemiologists focus their work on infectious diseases (myself included!). More on that (& some other lessons) later.