1. What inspired you towards neuroscience?
Trained
as a clinical psychologist, I have always been fascinated with human behavior, particularly
with social interactions. With the emergence of cognitive neuroscience, I
wanted to explore the neural basis of successful and unsuccessful verbal and
nonverbal interactions.
2.
Why stroke?
To
me, post-stroke aphasia is one of the most devastating human conditions. Patients
frequently appear physically unharmed, but are mentally „locked in“ because of
their inability to successfully interact with other humans.
3.
What have been the highs so far?
I
recently had the privileg to be the local principal investigator of the to-date
largest randomised controlled clinical trial (RCT) on the effectiveness of
intensive speech and language therapy/SLT in chronic post-stroke aphasisa. The
results demonstrated statistical superiority of intensive SLT compared to no or
low intensity SLT and have been accepted for publication by the prestigous
medical journal The Lancet [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30067-3]. I am confident that the
results will contribute to improved treatment options for stroke patients with
aphasia in the intermediate future.
4.
What have been the lows?
Having
worked at a neurology department for the past 17 years, I experienced how limited
the research devoted to post-stroke aphasia has been in the medical field.
Significantly more contributions in terms of publications and grants have been
made in the field of physical post-stroke symptoms. The sad consequence has
been that access to SLT has become increasingly difficult for stroke patients
with aphasia.
5.
How do you balance work life with the needs of home life?
This
is clearly not one of my strenghts. It feels like an ongoing struggle between
following my passion for work and spending time with my two lovely children and
my husband. So it is actually a constant ‚imbalance‘, one way or the other…
6.
Who are your most important mentors and how did you find them?
As
a postdoc, I worked for two years with Diana Van Lancker Sidtis at the
University of Southern California in Los Angeles (USA). Diana inspired me to
unorthodox ways of thinking in solving ‚the brain puzzle‘ – and taught me that
food is of minor importance when you are analysing data from one of your
recently completed studies! Stefan Knecht and E. Bernd Ringelstein (formerly
Dept. of Neurology, University of Muenster, Germany) shared my passion for
language from their neurologists‘ perspectives and were always highly
supportive of my scientific projects.
7.
What are your most important collaborations and how have you built them?
The
FCET2EC study group designed and realized the above mentioned RCT on SLT
effectiveness in chronic aphasia. Without the joint expertise of the group
members, the study would have never accomplished. The Collaboration of Aphasia
Trialists (CAT) initiative lead by Marian Brady (University of Glasgow, UK) got
me involved with aphasisa experts worldwide. In this collaboration, we are currently
aiming to develop international core outcome sets (COS) for aphasia research as
well as to establish an international registry for routine care aphasia outcome
data. I consider both projects to be of outmost importance in the field of
aphasia.
Caterina is from the Dept. of General Neurology with Institute for Translational Neurology
University of Muenster, Germany she can be contacted at breitens@uni-muenster.de
University of Muenster, Germany she can be contacted at breitens@uni-muenster.de
