Katerina Protsenko
Junior Investigator
UCSF Medical Student
Katerina Protsenko is a medical student at UCSF, where she is also pursuing a Master's degree in clinical research through UCSF's Training in Clinical Research Program. Her work focuses on evidence of accelerated biological aging in depression, with an emphasis on the most recently developed PhenoAge and GrimAge Clocks. Katerina was first introduced to the notion of biological aging as distinct from chronological aging while working with Drs. Elissa Epel, Jue Lin, and Aric Prather as part of UCSF Summer Explore research program for medical students in 2018. Prior to medical school, Katerina worked with the Center for Integrative Pain Neuroimaing (CiPNI) at the MGH Martinos Center, where she learned to use functional MRI data in the study of chronic fibromyalgia pain. Katerina is applying for medical residency in psychiatry, and hopes to pursue a career in clinical care and research on the interconnections of psychiatric and somatic health.