Ann-Christin S. Kimmig

Dr. Ann-Christin Kimmig is a postdoctoral researcher in the Women’s Mental Health and Brain Function group at the University Hospital Tübingen, Germany, and a member of the DFG-funded International Research Training Group “Women’s Mental Health Across the Reproductive Years.” Her work focuses on how hormonal transitions across the female lifespan, including contraceptive use, menstrual cycle, pregnancy and other reproductive stages, relate to brain function, socio-affective processes and mental health. Her aim is to identify markers of hormonal sensitivity across different hormonal transition phases.

During her PhD, she examined the psychological and neurobiological effects of initiating and discontinuing oral contraceptives using a multimodal design that combined behavioural assessments, hormonal measurements and neuroimaging. Her research provided the first neuroimaging evidence linking synthetic hormone levels to socio-affective processes such as empathy, mood and sexual motivation.

Dr. Kimmig specializes in human neuroimaging and the integration of neural, hormonal and behavioural measures to study women’s brain health. Her research interests center on socio-affective functions, including empathy, emotion processing, social cognition and motivational processes, and how these are shaped by hormonal fluctuations across the reproductive years. She also contributes to the development of neuroimaging infrastructure that supports large-scale, collaborative research on women’s mental health.

In addition to her academic work, she is engaged in science communication and public outreach. Through public talks, interviews and educational initiatives, she aims to make research on hormones, brain function and mental health accessible to broader audiences and to promote informed discussions about women’s mental health and hormonal interventions.