Dr. Kristina Franz is a clinical researcher (non-physician), study investigator, nutritionist & data manager in the research areas of healthy aging, low-grade-inflammation in the old, host-microbiome factors in cardiovascular disease, transgender health, and phenotyping of patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) at multiple levels. She is currently working on several clinical projects such as sex-hormone-specific cardiovascular risks in the gut microbiome-host axis, focusing on multi-omics methods (e.g. metabolomics, epigenomics, proteomics, gut microbiome) in a transgender cohort undergoing gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy. She is involved in the ongoing clinical trial that aims to establish a dedicated cohort of HFpEF that will provide comprehensive mechanistic and molecular phenotyping of patients, taking into account skeletal muscle, kidney and adipose tissue, including metabolism, microbiome, proteomics, and inflammation.