Catherine Berens

Dr Catherine Berens is a Senior Expert ‘Life Sciences’ in the Health Innovations and Ecosystems Unit at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) since December 2024.

She was trained as a pharmacist and obtained her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. After having worked for the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (European Pharmacopoeia, Council of Europe, Strasbourg), she joined the European Commission in 2002, as Scientific Officer in charge of Rare Diseases in the Health Directorate of DG RTD. From 2012, she worked as a Policy Officer for Pharmaceuticals in then-Directorate-General Enterprise and Industry. From 2014, she held various positions at DG RTD, including Head of Sector Neuroscience, Assistant to DG RTD's Deputy Director-General in charge of Research Programmes, Deputy Head of Unit 'Strategy' (Health Directorate), Deputy Head of Unit ‘Healthy Lives’ and Deputy Head of Unit ‘Combatting Diseases’ (People Directorate).