was director of the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWIG) until August 2010. In 1994, he received his habilitation in internal medicine from the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf. From 1991 to 2001, he was a professor at the Medical Faculty of the University of Düsseldorf; since 2001, he has been a professor at the Medical Faculty of the University of Cologne. From 2000 to 2004, he was the director of the Department of Internal Medicine at St. Franziskus Hospital in Cologne. From 2002 to 2004, he founded and directed the Institute for Evidence-Based Medicine (DIEM). In July 2004, he was appointed director of the new "Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care." Among other things, the IQWiG evaluates the benefits of therapies, diagnostic procedures, and medications and provides information for the public on the current status of medical issues.