Istvan Katona earned his M.Sc. in biology from Loránd Eötvös University in Budapest, Hungary in 1997. Upon graduation, he continued his education at the János Szentágothai Doctoral School of Neurosciences at Semmelweis Medical University in Budapest in 2000. He joined the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University (IU) in 2020 as the Naus Family Chair of Addiction Sciences.
Prior to joining the IU faculty, Katona served as a professor at the Institute of Experimental Medicine at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He also served as a scientific advisor in the Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Katona focuses his research on addiction and cannabinoids.
Throughout his career, Katona has been recognized with several awards and honors. He was elected a lifetime member of the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2016. In 2016, he was also awarded the Academy Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for outstanding scientific achievements. He is a member of numerous professional societies, some of which include the International Cannabinoid Research Society and the Society of Neuroscience.