dr. S.M. (Sarah) Burke

I'm Sarah and since September 2020, I have enjoyed working at the University Centre Psychiatry in Prof Judith Rosmalen's group. Our project revolves around the question of which social developmental factors play a role in the persistence of somatic symptoms from childhood into adulthood.

I have a background in psychology and cognitive neuroscience and conducted my PhD research at the VU medical centre in Amsterdam from 2009 to 2014. That project was a prospective neuroimaging study on the effects of sex hormones on brain functioning of children and adolescents with gender incongruence.

After a postdoc at Karolinska Institute (Sweden), in Prof Ivanka Savic's group, where I conducted brain research on self- and body perception, I started another position at Leiden University in 2016, in Prof Eveline Crone's lab. That project focused on social and brain development during adolescence.

My research interests lie at the interface of body and mind, with a special focus on psychopathology, gender and sex differences.