Katja received her DVM in 1999 from University of Leipzig, where she also did her residency, which she completed it in 2005 with her German board certification in Veterinary Pathology. She moved to Munich, where she started to focus on pancreas pathology as a research Post Doc at the Helmholtz Center Munich and the Technical University of Munich. Together with the chairman of the Institute of Pathology of the TUM, she funded and is heading a Germany-wide unique Comparative Experimental Pathology Unit. Her research focus is comparative translational pathology of the gastrointestinal system with special emphasis on the pancreas.