Insights into respiratory humidification

Co-founder and managing partner of Gruendler Medical 2001-2014

Hospital of Sigmaringen, dep. of Anesthesiology from 2002 to 2007

PhD 2004 about quality of care of Asthma Bronchiale

Co-inventor of the HumiCare technology, long term expert knowledge in medical ventilation and humidification including clinical aspects as well as technical solutions and associated properties and risks.

Focus of scientific and clinical work: respiratory failure and therapeutic options like artificial ventilation including the full range from high frequency oscillation and extracorporal gas exchange system as well as home care ventilation for adults and pediatrics.

since 2007 member of the department of anesthesiology and intensive care of the hospital of Freudenstadt.

Today member of ResMed’s global medical affairs and marketing team, focus humidification solutions.

Adverse consequences of ventilator support

Medical Education:
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland (USA) and the University of Washington, Seattle.

Publication:
Author and/or editor of 7 medical textbooks, and contributor to more than 300 scientific and educational articles. “Critical Care Medicine—The Essentials”, a text that has been translated into 5 languages, is now in revision for its 5th edition.

Academic Awards:
1998 Young Medal–the highest award given for contributions to the field by the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC)
2011 Distinguished Achievement Award of the American Thoracic Society (ATS), the scientific branch of the American Lung Association
2014 Forrest M. Bird Award for Lifetime Scientific Achievement in the field of respiratory care given by the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC)

Research:
My investigative work has always concentrated in understanding the cardiopulmonary physiology and management of acute respiratory failure, with an emphasis on patient-ventilator interactions which occur in critical illness. In the majority of that research, I have positioned myself at the interface between basic physiology and clinical medicine so as to develop mechanistic insights that advance clinical practice. General areas of investigation have included cardio-pulmonary interactions; dynamic hyperinflation; mathematical modeling of respiratory mechanics; patient-ventilator interactions; work-of-breathing during mechanical ventilation; tracheal gas insufflation; and, most recently, airway bio-fluids, propagation of lung injury, chest mechanics of uni-lateral lung disease, cardiovascular effects of high dose insulin, and the cellular pathobiology of ventilator-induced lung injury. Investigative methods have ranged from highly theoretical mathematical models of invasive and non-invasive mechanical ventilation and gas exchange through bench testing, to laboratory investigation using small and large animal models of lung injury and therapeutic practices, and bedside clinical studies of normal subjects and patients with acute and chronic respiratory illnesses.