Claudia Barth

Prof. Dr. Claudia Barth is a Professor of Neurobiology of Hormonal Transitions at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, holding dual appointments at the Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences and the Institute of Gender in Medicine (GiM). As Head of the Research Division Neurobiology of Hormonal Transitions, she leads pioneering work integrating preclinical and clinical perspectives with computational approaches to study hormonal transitions and their impact on brain health and psychiatric disorders. She currently serves as Chair of the ENIGMA Neuroendocrinology Working Group – Menopause Subgroup and Co-Chair of the ENIGMA Early Onset Psychosis Working Group, fostering global research collaborations.

Her educational background includes a PhD in Neuroscience (summa cum laude, 2017) from the University of Leipzig & Max Planck Institute, an MSc in Biology (Neurobiology & Behavior, 2012), and a BSc in Biology (2010). Prior to her current position, she completed postdoctoral training at the University of Oslo and Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research (2018-2020), and doctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Science (2013-2017).

Barth's research focuses on women's brain health across hormonal transition periods, with particular emphasis on menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause. Her work investigates how sex hormones influence brain structure and function, and their relationship to psychiatric disorders including depression and psychosis. Through innovative approaches combining neuroimaging, registry data, and computational methods, she has established herself as a leading researcher in female brain health. Her recent work demonstrates how estradiol exposure affects brain aging trajectories and how hormonal transitions create vulnerability windows for mental health disorders.

Her publication record shows consistent high-impact contributions in neuroscience journals, with recent articles exploring menstrual cycle effects on brain structure (2023), menopausal hormone therapy effects (2024), and comprehensive analyses of sex steroids across the lifespan (2023). Her research demonstrates increasing focus on translational applications, particularly in understanding how hormonal transitions affect vulnerability to depression and Alzheimer's disease.

• 2024: European Research Council Starting Grant (PI, €1.5M) - "MappingPerimenopause"
• 2025: Wellcome Leap CARE (Co-PI, €1.5M) - "Charting the female brain during midlife"
• 2025: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks (Co-PI, €4.7M) - "Gender-InSIGHT"
• 2025: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks (Co-PI, €4.5M) - "MenoBrain"

As an active science communicator, Barth has contributed to public understanding through interviews with European Sleep Research Society (2025), Forbes (2023), podcasts on women's health (2024), and educational materials for Springer Medicine (2024). Her work bridges cutting-edge neuroscience with clinical applications to improve women's brain health outcomes across the lifespan.