He was the founding director of the first Institute for Health, Therapy, and Nursing Sciences at a public medical school in the German-speaking countries (DA-CH), the University of Halle-Wittenberg. He was a board member of the DFG Collaborative Research Centers 186 (Bremen 1988–2000) and 580 (Halle/Jena 2000–2012), which also focus on health services research, as well as the Deans' Conference of Nursing Sciences. He was also a founding member of the German Center for Evidence-Based Nursing "sapere aude."