 In 1983 he received his doctorate in Greek from Wolfgang Kullmann for his thesis on "Theophrasts Methode in seinen botanischen Schriften" (Theophrastus' Methods in his Botanical Writings).In 1988 he achieved his habilitation from the University of Bamberg with his work, "Studien zur Theorie der antiken Gesundheitslehre" (Studies on the Theory of Ancient Medical Education).Subsequently, he was the of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and held teaching chairs at the University of Würzburg and the University of Mainz.