studied psychology in Göttingen and at the Free University of Berlin. The doctorate followed in 2004 and the habilitation in 2010. She worked as a postdoc at the University of Alberta, Canada. She received her first professorship in 2010 at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Since 2011 she has been working as a professor at the Constructor University Bremen (formerly Jacobs University), where she conducts national/international research projects on health-related issues.