Prof. Kathrin Reetz Appointed Full Professor

_{Prof. Reetz is head of the young investigators group “Metabolic Imaging in Neurodegenerative Diseases”, which receives funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (source: Wolf R. Ussler).}

Prof. Kathrin Reetz, senior physician at the Department of Neurology, was appointed professor (grade W2) of imaging for neurodegenerative diseases at University Hospital Aachen. The neurologist had previously been working as a JARA-BRAIN junior professor at both Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Department of Neurology at University Hospital Aachen.

The scientific priority of her research, which she will continue to pursue in close cooperation with Forschungszentrum Jülich within the context of JARA-BRAIN, is imaging – complementing the clinical focus – for neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia or movement disorders (Huntington’s disease, ataxia, Parkinson’s syndrome, tremor). This involves the use of structural, functional, and metabolic imaging techniques. The aim is to gain a better understanding of disease-specific neurobiological mechanisms, particularly in the early stages, and to develop new imaging markers for application in clinical studies.

On 1st April 2014, Prof. Reetz also became head of the young investigators group “Metabolic Imaging in Neurodegenerative Diseases”, which will receive funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for the next five years. Another externally funded research project focuses on real-time fMRI neurofeedback in Alzheimer’s disease.