Biography:

I founded Germany's first outpatient clinic for knee surgery - the predecessor of today's Alpha Klinik - in Munich in 1984. In 1989, the Back Unit was formed, and in 1997 we became a fully-fledged hospital - the Alpha Klinik.

From the very beginning, my colleagues from the Back Unit and I specialised in minimal-invasive techniques. In the course of my career, I have performed over 27.000 knee operations, the majority of which were minimal-invasive. (Prior to the Alpha Klinik, I had worked in Tuebingen and Ingolstadt as an orthopaedic surgeon since 1976.)

My key competencies include joint-preserving arthritis surgery and minimal-invasive ligament repair/replacement surgery. In terms of cartilage resurfacing, with over 4,000 patients treated to date, I can certainly say that I have cured the largest number of patients with knee arthritis worldwide. In addition, I was the first in Europe and the second in the world to replace an anterior cruciate ligament using an arthroscopic technique in 1983.

I travel regularly to the U.S. to learn the very latest techniques (51 times at last count!), and have been invited to demonstrate and speak about my surgical skills all over the globe, including in Argentina, India, Pakistan and Mauritius. In addition, I have organised a number of international congresses on knee surgery, have written nine scientific papers and contributed to several medical books and many articles. In 2001, my own book entitled "Knee Arthritis - How to avoid an artificial knee" (written for the general public), was published in five languages.

I am a founding member of the Scientific Society of Arthroscopic Surgery (since 1984) and also a member of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Orthopaedie und Traumatologie (German Society for Orthopaedics and Traumatology), The International Knee Society and The International Arthroscopy Association. I graduated as a doctor from the University of Berlin in 1971, went on to complete the ECFMG exam in the U.S. in 1975, and qualified as an orthopaedic surgeon in 1976.

 I speak fluent German, English, French, Spanish and Italian.