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DDr. Belinda Pletzer

DDr. Belinda Pletzer
Founder, Hormonal Intelligence Initiative

DDr. Belinda Pletzer is an internationally recognized neuroscientist specializing in the hormonal modulation of brain function and behavior, with a particular focus on sex hormones, stress hormones, hormonal health, and women’s mental health. Her work integrates psychology, neuroimaging, endocrinology, and advanced statistical methods to investigate how hormonal factors shape cognitive and emotional processes across the life course.

DDr. Pletzer holds multiple advanced degrees across psychology, biology, mathematics, and philosophy, including two PhDs and a habilitation in psychology. Her interdisciplinary background allows her to connect experimental neuroscience, cognitive psychology, hormonal assessment, and data science in the study of brain and behavior.

Her research has significantly contributed to the understanding of menstrual cycle-related changes in brain function and mental health, the effects of hormonal contraceptives on the brain, sex differences in cognition and emotion, and the role of hormonal fluctuations in women’s health. She has led the ERC Starting Grant project BECONTRA, “How birth control pills affect the female brain”, which investigates the neural, cognitive, and emotional effects of hormonal contraceptives. Through the Hormonal Intelligence Initiative, she aims to create space for integrative, sex- and gender-sensitive research on hormones, brain, cognition, and mental health.

 

Research focus

  • Hormonal modulation of brain function and behavior
  • Menstrual cycle-related changes in cognition, emotion, and mental health
  • Hormonal contraceptives and the female brain
  • Sex hormones, stress hormones, and hormonal health
  • Women’s mental health and personalized medicine

  • Neuroimaging, psychoneuroendocrinology, and advanced statistical methods

     

Selected representative publications

  • Pletzer, B., Hausinger, T., Thoms, N., Gierg, C., & Beltz, A. M. (2026). Menstrual cycle variations in stress vulnerability and sociability relate to mental health symptoms and libido. npj Women’s Health, 4(1), 18. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44294-026-00140-z
  • Gnaiger, A. M., Werlein, P., Gruschwitz, P., Siebers, M., Panzik, A., Comasco, E., ... & Pletzer, B. (2026). Persistent impairment of executive functions in premenstrual syndrome: State or trait? Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, 100730. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsgos.2026.100730
  • Pletzer, B., Comasco, E., Hidalgo-Lopez, E., Kimmig, A.-C., Sundström-Poromaa, I., & Derntl, B. (2025). Menstrual cycle related changes in the human brain. In Encyclopedia of the Human Brain (2nd ed.), 604–623. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-820480-1.00151-0
  • Rietzler, A., Hausinger, T., & Pletzer, B. (2025). Evaluating the added value of salivary hormones in the context of menstrual cycle staging: A machine learning approach and app-implementation. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 178, 107495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2025.107495
  • Pletzer, B., Bodenbach, H., Hoehn, M., Hajdari, L., Hausinger, T., Noachtar, I., & Beltz, A. M. (2024). Reproducible stability of verbal and spatial functions along the menstrual cycle. Neuropsychopharmacology, 49(6), 933–941. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-023-01789-9
  • Avila-Varela, D. S., Hidalgo-Lopez, E., Dagnino, P. C., Acero-Pousa, I., del Agua, E., Deco, G., ... Pletzer, B., & Escrichs, A. (2024). Whole-brain dynamics across the menstrual cycle: The role of hormonal fluctuations and age in healthy women. npj Women’s Health, 2(1), 8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44294-024-00012-4
  • Noachtar, I. A., Frokjaer, V. G., & Pletzer, B. (2023). Mental health symptoms in oral contraceptive users during short-term hormone withdrawal. JAMA Network Open, 6(9), e2335957. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.35957
  • Hidalgo-Lopez, E., Engman, J., Poromaa, I. S., Gingnell, M., & Pletzer, B. (2023). Triple network model of brain connectivity changes related to adverse mood effects in an oral contraceptive placebo-controlled trial. Translational Psychiatry, 13(1), 209. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02470-x
  • Petersen, N., Beltz, A. M., Casto, K. V., Taylor, C. M., Jacobs, E. G., Sundström-Poromaa, I., & Pletzer, B. (2023). Towards a more comprehensive neuroscience of hormonal contraceptives. Nature Neuroscience, 26(4), 529–531. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-023-01273-z
  • Pletzer, B., Harris, T. A., Scheuringer, A., & Hidalgo-Lopez, E. (2019). The cycling brain: Menstrual cycle related fluctuations in hippocampal and fronto-striatal activation and connectivity during cognitive tasks. Neuropsychopharmacology, 44(11), 1867–1875. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-019-0435-3

For a complete list of publications, please visit her Google Scholar profile.

External profiles