Widjaja Foundation Inflammatory Bowel and Immunobiology Research Institute in the Department of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai. She is also an adjunct associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine. She earned a master's degree in biopharmacology and toxicology from the University of Greifswald, Germany. Michelsen holds a doctorate in molecular biology from the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. After she earned her PhD, Michelsen engaged in postdoctoral training in immunology at Cedars-Sinai. She became a faculty member of the Department of Medicine in 2006.