Iris Kathol obtained her Ph.D. in biochemistry and nutrition at the University of Bonn, Germany. She came to Calgary as Postdoctoral (Humboldt/Feodor-Lynen) Fellow and joined the Smooth Muscle Research Group in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology in 1994.

After a family break she contributed to research in the fields of nephrology and hypertension (regulation of vasoconstriction in afferent and efferent arterioles) with Dr. Rodger Loutzenhiser and Dr. Mike Walsh.

Iris then moved on to become a clinical research coordinator for a pilot study in canine scent detection of lung cancer screening with Dr. Alain Tremblay and is presently the coordinator for the PCAN Lab.