Portrait Katie Fitch
"The interaction between research and industry inspires me"

It is well known that women are underrepresented in clinical trials and that diseases that predominantly affect women are insufficiently researched. Many clinical trials in the past have been conducted mainly with male participants. As a result, documented side effects often affect men, while women often experience other side effects. One example is heart attacks. Women often perceive them differently than men, which in the past led to heart attacks in women not being recognized as such.

Dr. Katie Fitch, Head of Trustworthy Digital Health at the Fraunhofer Institute for Cognitive Systems IKS, wants to help change this fundamentally. "We should start to expand our knowledge with gender equality in mind and incorporate this into the knowledge base we develop for the future."Katie sees research as a great opportunity for humanity: "With advances in digitalization and AI, we have the tools to address this gender imbalance, and now we need to tackle the research."

And that's exactly what Katie Fitch does. Since November 2024, the 35-year-old has been managing her team and overseeing projects from acquisition to the coordination of research activities. Katie's team is currently working on various projects to use artificial intelligence
(AI) to make improved medical predictions and develop decision-making aids for diagnoses. In one of their projects, the researchers are analyzing ECG data in order to use AI to predict various diseases and health consequences from the values. They are also working on an application in the field of women's health to help doctors track symptoms and create reports.

Detours into research

Katie's path to medical AI research took a circuitous route, but one thing was already clear when she was at school: her enthusiasm for mathematics sparked her interest in engineering. After graduating from high school, she therefore studied mechanics and aerospace at Syracuse University in the US state of New York. This was followed by doctoral studies at Princeton University in the neighboring state of New Jersey.

She discovered her enthusiasm for research during a research project at university, while at the same time completing an internship in an engineering office. Through the contrast of the two jobs, Katie quickly realized that she wanted to go further into research. Her interest in research for the common good eventually led her to the field of software and AI for healthcare.

Katie grew up in the small town of Hamburg near Buffalo in the US state of New York - a place with long, snowy winters and a passionate fan base for the Buffalo Bills football team. “The area has a strong sense of community - people are very friendly and always willing to help their neighbors.” She came to Munich via a postdoctoral position at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). "During this time, I was able to expand my knowledge of discrete mathematics and gain experience in the management of applied research projects." She then worked for several years in a medtech start-up in the Bavarian capital, where she deepened her knowledge of cardiology and gained valuable insights into the development of regulatory-certified software as a medical device.

Bringing AI into clinical practice

From there, she went straight to Fraunhofer IKS last summer. "What particularly excites me about my work is the interaction between research and industry and thus also putting research into practice." And there are plenty of fields of activity here. "In my opinion, more
funding should be provided, particularly in the area of female health, in order to gain a better understanding. Because there are many things we should know about issues that affect around 50 percent of the population, such as the menopause." It would also be important to support more initiatives that bring AI into clinical practice to facilitate the transition to integrating AI into clinical applications.

Katie finds a balance to her dedicated research work in the fresh air while jogging along the Isar or on her racing bike. She loves to take on sporting challenges, such as the Boston or Munich marathons, which she completed in her best time of just 3 hours and 23 minutes. When she's not out and about doing sports, you can often find her at her favorite café Kyso in Munich's Giesing district or enjoying her favorite ice cream flavor, chocolate, at Ballabeni.

In addition to her daily sport, film photography is one of her greatest hobbies. She not only takes pictures, but also develops them herself in her own small darkroom. One of her favorite motifs: “Karlo”, her four-year-old Dalmatian.