Dr. Katharina Schwarz (f) leads the department “Aerosol Technology and Aerosol Biophysics” at the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM) in Hannover, Germany since 2015.
She is an expert at the interface between aerosol/inhalation research, respiratory pharmacokinetics, toxicology/physiology and inhalation exposure science with a special focus on lung particle dosimetry and biophysical particle-lung interactions. Her institutional role involves interfacing with the pre-clinical and clinical airway research as well as toxicology/risk assessment from Fraunhofer ITEM and the corresponding sponsors from chemical/pharmaceutical industry or governmental institutions to cover the aerosol/inhalation and dosimetry-related aspects in drug development programs, toxicological or inhalation exposure studies including GLP/GCP-compliance. In particular she has overlooked the development of the inhalation-focused “PBKit” PBPK model as well as the derivation of quantitative in vitro to in vivo extrapolations (QIVIVE) resulting in successful tools in particular for respiratory toxicity and efficacy studies. In addition, she has led various national and international research and development works/projects in the field of inhalation exposure characterization and assessment also for regulatory purposes.
Dr. Schwarz is an active member of ISAM and is one of the chairs of the working group “Environmental/Occupational Health/Toxicology” of the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine (ISAM) since 2019.
She is a member of the Scientific Program Committee for the 24th congress of the Society held in 2023. She is also actively engaged in the working group “Respiratory Toxicology” of the German Society of Toxicology. She serves as reviewer for several inhalation/aerosol, toxicological, pharmaceutical and exposure science-based journals.
