is Senior Physician at the Department of Anaesthesiology ,Head of the Multidisciplinary Pain Center at the University of Munich (LMU), Campus Innenstadt and President of the German Medical Acupuncture Association (DÄGfA e.V.). He is a member of various committees of pain medicine, CAM and acupuncture, e.g. Cochrane low back pain group, Acupuncture Trialists Collaboration. As a scientist, he has led a BMBF funding project on acupuncture and many clinical studies, as well as two years of basic research at the Institute of Physiology of the LMU Munich.

In addition, there is a great deal of teaching at universities, over 200 invited lectures, over 100 pub med listed scientific papers, about 30 book contributions and 2 books: the Standard text book "Myofascial Trigger Points" (Churchill Livingstone) and patients adviser "Healing the back" (Irisiana, in German). His scientific work has been awarded various scientific prize e.g. Excellence in Integrative Medicine Research Award 2016 of the European Society of Integrative Medicine.

The Munich Outpatient Program in Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Chronic Pain, which was implemented in 2001, serves as model for Integrative Medicine.