Since 2023 Vera works as research fellow at the Malariology Unit of ITM. She is coordinating investigator of the IMMETASEX project, that investigates host immune and metabolic determinants of sexual conversion in Plasmodium parasites in Mozambique and Burkina Faso.
From 2019 - 2023 Vera worked as the Educational Coordinator in the Unit of Tropical Laboratory Medicine of ITM. Here she developed & coordinated courses, gave classes (laboratory classes, field lab preparedness) and developed educational material, e.g. the ITM Labhub website, videos and online courses.
From 2015 - 2020 Vera completed a PhD on diagnostic antigens for serodiagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis in the unit of Parasite Diagnostics at the Institute of Tropical Medicine. Her PhD was as part of a Marie Sklodowska-Curie - Innovative Training Network EuroLeish.net.
After her master’s degree she spend 1,5 years in Gabon managing the Parasitology Laboratory of the Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné (CERMEL). Here Vera coordinated and took part in a team that supports clinical trials by performing routine diagnosis of helminth infections and she set up a molecular diagnostic unit. Alongside she performed studies on accuracy and applicability of the diagnostic methods.
Since her studies Vera focused on parasitology and infectious diseases: during her bachelor’s thesis at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Tübingen as well as her master’s thesis at the Bernhard-Nocht-Institute of Tropical Medicine in Hamburg. During that time she completed an internship at the Médecins Sans Frontières’ Access Campaign where she lobbied for more political support for research in this field.