Staff

Phone: +49 621 1703-7490

e-mail

Secretariat

Heike Schmidt-Harth MTA-F
E-Mail
Phone: +49 621 1703-7491

About me — Michèle Wessa

I studied Psychology at the University of Mannheim and Humboldt University Berlin — and looking back, it was a perfect match. After getting my first taste of academic life as a research assistant and intern at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, I knew that I wanted to pursue an academic career in clinical psychology. After completing my studies, I did just that, and earned my doctorate at the Central Institute of Mental Health under Herta Flor on the topic of “Neural correlates of implicit and explicit memory processes in post-traumatic stress disorder”.

This doctoral thesis was my entry into the world of neuroscience, and during a postdoctoral stay in France, I was able to deepen my knowledge in that field and, at the same time, to build up a scientific network that continues to this day. My positions at Heidelberg University as Professor of Experimental Psychopathology and Neuroimaging and at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz for Neuropsychology and Clinical Psychology showed me that broadening one's focus, both in terms of content and methodology, is always possible and valuable. In Mainz, I was able to expand my research to also cover neuroscientific and applied resilience research and intervention development, which I was able to advance intensively as a founding member of the Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research. It was not until 2020 that sports psychology was added, a field of research that has long interested and fascinated me – resilience research and sports psychology go so well together that I absolutely wanted to combine them, and training as a sports psychologist at the Centre for Mental Excellence gave me the decisive boost.

For more details about my research topics, see the description of the department, as well as the specific research projects.

Michèle holds a diploma in Psychology, a PhD in Psychology and has received her habilitation (venia legendi) in Neuropsychology, Clinical Psychology and Medical Psychology. More recently she was also certified as sport psychologist. After being professor at the Universities of Heidelberg from 2011 to 2013 and at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz from 2013 to 2024 she is now back as Professor at the University of Heidelberg, leading the Department of Cancer Survivorship and Psychological Resilience at the DKFZ Hector Cancer Institute and the Department of Neuropsychology and Psychological Resilience Research at the Central Institute of Mental Health.