Education:
- 1986 Doctorate in medicine at the University of Vienna
- 1986-1994 Further training as a specialist in psychiatry and neurology in Vienna
- 1990-1991 Eating Disorders Research Fellowship, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN (Schrödinger Fellowship abroad, FWF)
- 1987-1993 Further training in cognitive and behavioral therapy (Austrian Society for Behavioral Therapy, ÖGVT)
- 29.06.1995 Obtained the Venia docendi for psychiatry at the University of Vienna on the subject of binge-eating disorder
Scientific and professional career:
- 1994-1995 Senior physician, Psychosomatic Hospital Bad Bramstedt
- 1995-2003 Senior physician at the Psychiatric University Clinic in Vienna
- 2001-2002 Visiting Professor: Division of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Neuroscience, UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Fargo, ND
- 2003-2011 Head of the Psychosomatic and Psychotherapeutic Department of the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg
- since 01.10.2011 Director of the Clinical Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy at Hannover Medical School
- Fellow of the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 2020
Board member of the following societies:
- Founding member and until 01.06.2012 President of the German Society for Eating Disorders (DGESS)
- President of the German Obesity Society (DAG)
- Secretary General of the German College of Psychosomatic Medicine (DKPM)
Editorships:
- European Eating Disorders Review
- Psychotherapy, psychosomatics and medical psychology
- PSYCH Up2date
- Frontiers Psychiatry, Section Psychosomatic Medicine