Katja Becker

Katja Becker, President of the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 2020, studied medicine at Heidelberg University, where she also obtained her doctoral degree and habilitation. She held positions at the Center for Infectious Diseases, Würzburg University and accepted a chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Giessen University in the year 2000. Her research, focusing on cellular redox metabolism as a drug target in malaria parasites and cancer cells, is documented in more than 300 publications and her leadership in multidisciplinary consortia. Research and clinical work led her to Africa, Australia, Switzerland, the UK and the US. Professor Becker is active in multiple scientific advisory boards and is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. In 2021 she additionally was elected Chair of the Governing Board of the Global Research Council (GRC) for two years.