BUA Institution

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Research Description

As a psychodynamic psychiatrist, I am interest in how medication affects our psyche – both its benefits and drawbacks – and in how we understand ourselves and others emotionally, as well as how we communicate. More broadly, I am curious about how interests and bias influence our research system and scientific literature. Recently, I have become particularly drawn to understanding emotional and non-conscious processes in individuals and groups, which has led me to explore how we can foster group cohesion and mutual understanding in polarized conflicts. 

Where in the world has your career been largely based until now?

Guadalajara, Mexico – Hamburg – Berlin – Stanford – Berlin!

Why Berlin?

Every winter I promise myself to move away – but then summer comes back and it is just the most wonderful city there is. Only when abroad you realize how people come together and life really happens on the streets – day and night. 

What fascinates you about your research area?

When you are trained to explore the individual mind and then experience the dynamics of groups, it is simply mind-blowing. Even when we tell ourselves that we are independent individuals, it is fascinating how deeply we are a relational species. And how much of what happens inside our minds – and in groups – occurs unconsciously, without our awareness.

How will your research change the world?

I would like to find ways for us to accept ourselves more fully in our conflictedness – to endure the fundamental ambivalences of human existence. This applies to us as individuals, as scientists, and as a society. I would like to help us develop a curiosity about our own inner conflicts, our biases, and our blind spots. If we can approach our ambivalences without judgment and communicate about them more openly, that may be the most important first step toward overcoming societal polarization.

Rumour has it that nobody is perfect. Which skill or ability have you really had to work on in your career (or are you perhaps still working on)?

Be open towards others, to their ideas, to their thinking, to a mutual exchange of ways of experiencing and acting. That is constant work.