Annette Peters directs the Institute of Epidemiology II at the Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany. She studied biology, mathematics and epidemiology at the Universities in Konstanz and Tübingen, Germany as well as at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA. She has pioneered work identifying the link between ambient particulate matter and cardiovascular disease exacerbation. Furthermore, she was among the first examining the role of ultrafine particles in epidemiological studies. Today, she heads the population-based KORA cohort initiated in the mid-eighties in Augsburg and continues to expand its research portfolio addressing the role of environmental factors on diabetes and cardiovascular disease.