Kristina holds a DVM and a PhD of Biomedical Sciences of Freie Universität Berlin (FUB), Germany, and joined the University of Hohenheim in September 2024. Prior to this, she worked at the International Livestock Research Institute since 2011, starting as a graduate fellow during the final synthesis activities of the BMZ/GIZ-funded, ILRI-led Safe Food, Fair Food project on animal sourced food safety in informal markets in Sub-Sahara Africa. From 2012 to 2016 she was jointly appointed by FUB as a research fellow to complete her PhD on pig parasites in Uganda and by ILRI as the coordinator of the second phase of the Safe Food, Fair Food project. She later coordinated an ILRI-led BMZ investment on improving animal and human health in Uganda (BUILD, 2019-2023) and supported the conceptualization of the BMZ-funded ILRI One Health centre for Africa (OHRECA, 2019-2024).
Prior to her veterinary studies she volunteered in forest conservation in Malawi using participatory methods in tackling the human-elephant conflict. Until today she is volunteering for various initiatives in Malawi: Wildlife Action Group (through Rettet die Elefanten Afrikas e.V.) and German-Malawi Association e.V. As a student she worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine at FUB, supporting field work on emerging tropical vector-borne livestock diseases, e.g. Bluetongue Virus, in Europe and parasitological surveys in West Africa (funded through a DAAD scholarship). Particular interests include research on the epidemiology of diseases at the interface of livestock, wildlife and human health, parasitology, working with students well as South-South and South-North knowledge transfer.
