Carina Heller, M. Sc.

Research Associate - Carina Heller was trained in psychology and is a PhD candidate focusing on white and gray matter brain alterations in patients with the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, a syndrome associated with a 30% risk to develop schizophrenia in adult life. In this and other projects, she cooperates with the Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory (PNL), Harvard Medical School, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, USA. Additionally, she works on projects about the effects of oral contraceptives on the human female brain and associations of COVID-19 with brain alterations.​

Education:

Since March 2019: PhD Candidate, Department of Clinical Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany

October 2016 to November 2018: Master of Science in Psychology (1.2), Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany

October 2012 to September 2016: Bachelor of Science in Psychology (1.8), University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany

 

Positions:

Since November 2019: Research Associate, Department of Clinical Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany

September 2021 to March 2022: Visiting PhD Student, Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA

December 2018 to October 2019: Research Associate, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital / Friedrich Schiller University Jena

March 2018 to October 2018: Research Trainee, Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA

October 2017 to February 2018: Research Assistant, Department of Neurology, Jena University Hospital / Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany

August 2014 to October 2014: Research Internship, Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

 

Teaching Activities:

Winter semester 2019/2020: Seminars in clinical psychology II / Department of Clinical Psychology / Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany

Posters:

April 2018 Harvard Psychiatry Research Day, Boston, USA

April 2019 Harvard Psychiatry Research Day, Boston, USA

June 2019 Organization of Human Brain Mapping (OHBM), Rome, Italy

April 2021 Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS), virtual

May 2021 Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP), virtual

March 2022 Harvard Psychiatry Research Day, Boston, USA

June 2022 Organization of Human Brain Mapping (OHBM), Glasgow, Scotland

 

Scholarships and Awards:

  • March 2018 to June 2018: PROMOS scholarship (German Academic Exchange Service, €2775.00)
  • March 2020: ProChance scholarship (Frauenförderung der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, €1000.00)

Memberships in Scientific Societies:

  • Organization of Human Brain Mapping (OHBM)
  • Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS)

Research Interests:

  • Structural MRI
  • Diffusion MRI
  • Psychotic Disorders
  • COVID-19
  • Women’s Health