Acting head of the IGKE, studying economics and sociology at the University of Cologne. He then worked as a consultant for hospital organization at the North Rhine-Westphalia Hospital Association. Since 1999, he has worked at the Institute for Health Economics and Clinical Epidemiology (IGKE) at the University of Cologne and completed his habilitation in health economics at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences. Since 2005, acting head of the IGKE and representative of the professorship of health economics. Main areas of work: health policy, financing and distribution issues in the health care system, and cost-benefit analyses.