 Between 1908 and 1910 he was at the university surgical clinic in Greifswald under Erwin Payr (1871–1947), then went to Königsberg to work with Payr and Paul Leopold Friedrich (1864–1916).He was appointed professor of surgery at Königsberg in 1916, and in 1927 accepted an invitation to move to the same chair in Tübingen.On 18 March 1924, Kirschner performed the first successful pulmonary artery embolectomy — Trendelenburg's operation.