Presently she directs the "Brain, Culture and Society" programme at the PIAS, and she continues her research activities at the University of Copenhagen and the Royal Danish Academy for Sciences and Letters.
She was born and grew up in Istanbul, Turkey, but has lived all her adult life in Denmark.
Her research and teaching have centred mainly on the areas of psychosomatics, post-traumatic stress, and migration psychology.
She has done research on the long-term impact of migration and transcultural integration on mental and physical health, and on the psychological treatment of chronic disease.
She is a fellow of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and Officier de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques.