Katharina Dörner

Katharina Dörner has been studying human medicine since 2021 at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel and is pursuing her medical doctoral thesis at the Institute for Human Genetics UKSH Kiel, starting October 2025. As a member of the intersectional feminist working group Fem*Med Kiel, she is invested in queer-feminist activism and fighting discrimination inside and outside of the medical system. 

As a part of the CRC 1665, her project is aiming to identify hormone responsive genes in uterus and tube post-natal genital tissue as a model to understand hormone-dependent processes in female genital differentiation. 

Research is still heavily influenced and characterized by a patriarchal perspective on experimental design, results and interpretation of the latter. To fully understand human development and the emergence of different pathologies, it is necessary to broaden the perspective with which these matters are investigated. Katharina Dörner’s project aims to question the narrative of female development as a passive process and contribute to closing the gender health and research gap. 

As part of an MD scholarship, Katharina Dörner is affiliated with the Integrated Research Training School of the Collaborative Research Center “Sexdiversity – Determinants, Meanings, and Implications of Gender Diversity in Sociocultural, Medical, and Biological Contexts” (CRC 1665) from October 2025 to March 2026.