Karina, a woman with super short brown hair is wearing a black hat and has her hand on top of the hat to take it off. She wears huge, feather-like earrings and lipstick.
Karina Sturm: medical assistant, laboratory technician, and today, journalist, writer, and advocate


Whenever I need stories that do not portray people living with chronic conditions as ‘patients’ or ‘sufferers,’ but as people that face their illness with courage, strength, and hope, I give Karina a call and reserve the front page.

Raoul Mazhar – Editor-in-chief Austrian Ärzte Woche


Education

September 2002 – June 2006

Three year standardized education as medical assistant and permanent position in medical offices:

Dr. Bauer/ Ehrengut/ Wonka in Neumarkt, Germany

Final grade: 1.33 (resembles grade A)

Exam: 1.7 (resembles grade B)

Main focus: 

  • Care for complex, mostly chronically ill patients
  • Guidance and examination of diabetic patients
  • Diagnostic testing such as ECG, geriatric diagnostics, vital parameters, cancer screening
  • Assistance during outpatient surgeries
  • Phlebotomy, injections
  • Responsible for office hygiene

September 2006 – July 2009

Three year standardized study as laboratory technician at the Staatliche Berufsfachschule B8 in Nürnberg, Germany

Final grade: 1.04 (resembles 21 subjects with grade A, one subject with grade B)

Exam: 1.3 (grade A)

Resulted in admission to a program that supports students with extraordinary talents

August 2009 – December 2012

Department Biology, Chair of Biotechnology, University of Erlangen Prof. Yves Muller

Researching bacterial effector proteins, in particular SiiE from Salmonella

Main focus:

  • Chromatography
  • Cultivation of bacterial expression systems
  • Protein biochemistry and crystallography
  • Lectures and presentations
  • Lab management
  • Support for students
  • Documentation and review of results in scientific publications

2013 – today

Disabled due to illness

Freelance journalist and award-winning filmmaker

My work centers around medicine, science, chronic illness and disability with a focus on the accurate representation of people with disabilities.

January 2018 – 2020

Edinburgh Napier University; Masters of Arts with distinction in international journalism for media professionals

Winner of the class medal for outstanding journalistic and academic work

Internships

August 2018 (5 weeks) – Belo Cipriani 

Creating visual content for Belo Cipriani’s YouTube channel:

“Firsts” is a mini documentary series about several authors contributing to the book “Firsts – Coming of Age Stories by People with Disabilities” by Belo Cipriani.

September/October 2018 (5 weeks) – The Mighty

Working with the video department

Editing articles of The Mighty contributors & creating original content

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome newsletter

Courses and qualification

Distance study – Journalism SGD (Studiengemeinschaft Darmstadt) (grade 1; resembles A)

Languages

German (native speaker)

English: TOEFL Score 119/120 (2017)

Skills

MS Office (Word, Excel, Power Point)

Apple Pages, Numbers, Keynote, iMovie

Basic HTML

FileZilla, OsiriX, Scrivener

WordPress, Social Media, YouTube

Video production including filming & editing; closed captions & descriptive audio

Podcasting

Blogging, SEO

Editing

Academic writing

Copywriting

Content creation

Creative writing

Storytelling

Downloadable Résumé