Studied medicine in Cologne, Clermont-Ferrand, and Glasgow. Completed residency training in neurology, followed by residency training in psychiatry with a subspecialty in psychotherapy. Most recently served as a senior physician in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Essen-Duisburg. Research fellowship in pediatric neurology at the University of Manitoba, Canada. From 2000 to 2007, professor of social medicine; since 2007, professor of pathopsychology at Otto Friedrich University of Bamberg. Research focuses on prevention and health promotion. Since 2001, disability affairs officer at the University of Bamberg.