has been a university professor and Director of the Institute of Environmental Toxicology at the Faculty of Medicine at the Martin Luther University of Halle since 1995 (retired from 10-2021). After obtaining her doctorate in dentistry at the University of Mainz (1982), she completed her post-doctoral studies at the Centre for Pharmacology and Toxicology of the University of Göttingen in 1991. She is a specialised toxicologist (DGPT) and European Registered Toxicologist (ERT). Her current research focuses on the toxicology and assessment of risks posed by nanomaterials as well as the further development of human in vitro systems of the lungs.
She has many years of experience in national and international advisory bodies (including the Advisory Committee of the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, Advisory Committee on Existing Chemicals of Environmental Relevance, International Union of Toxicology. Between 2004 and 2016, she was a member of the German Federal Government's Advisory Council on the Environment and the European Medicines Agency). Since 2016, she has been co-opted Member Toxicology in the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products of the European Medicines Agency, Amsterdam.