Andrea is a social worker and social scientist. She studied social work at the Catholic University of Applied Sciences in Muenster, Germany (1991-1994) and obtained her  German state registration and the Irish National Qualification in Social Work (1996). She completed a Master of Arts in European Social Policy Analysis (Maynooth University 1998) and a Master of Arts in Advanced Facilitation Skills in Promoting Health and Wellbeing (SETU, 2020). She gained several years of professional and intercultural experience with a vast range of clientele in various areas:
social work in practice and research, i.e. primary care social work, medical social work, geriatric-psychiatric work, administration and teaching German.

She has lived and worked in Germany, Italy and Ireland and is passionate about intercultural, inter-disciplinary, inter-agency work, lifelong learning and health promotion.

She is a member of the Association for Health Promotion Ireland (AHPI) and the International Federation of Social Work (IFSW).