Regular Board Member - Katharina Schwarz

Regular Board Member

Katharina Schwarz, Dr.  (Germany)

Dr. Katharina Schwarz (f) leads the department “Inhalation and Aerosol Sciences” 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 particle lung dosimetry and biophysical particle-lung interactions. In her institutional role she is responsible for the aerosol aerosol/inhalation and dosimetry-related aspects in drug development programs and toxicological or inhalation exposure studies including GLP/GCP-compliance. This involves interfacing with interdisciplinary teams from 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 meet the sponsor’s needs.

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 powerful tools in in particular for respiratory toxicity and efficacy studies. She has also a proven track record of successfully leading various national and international research and development projects in the field of inhalation exposure characterization and assessment also for regulatory purposes, including pioneering works in the exposure assessment of biocidal and cosmetic spray products.

Dr. Schwarz is a board member of ISAM since 2023 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 25th congress of the Society held in 2025. 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 as well as the German Research Foundation (DFG).