Curriculum Vitae

Summary

After studying medicine in Würzburg and San Francisco and completing a volunteer placement in Kolkata, India, I initially trained and worked as a general practitioner with additional qualification in public health. I then spent twenty years in international development cooperation with the Swiss Red Cross, working in Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan. In Kyrgyzstan, I was responsible for the development of national health promotion strategies as well as for building civil society and governmental organizations to implement these strategies nationwide. This work received both national and international recognition.

Alongside this work, I engaged in academic and conceptual research on participatory organizational development and completed a doctoral degree in this field.

After returning, I took on teaching roles and completed further training in psychotherapy and psychosomatic medicine, as well as training as a psychodynamic coach (DBVC certified). I currently share my experience as a senior coach and lecturer at the POP Institute in Düsseldorf.

Both in my earlier work with organizations and in my current work with individuals, the core of my commitment has remained the same: to encourage people to trust what is truly their own—and to set out toward a more vital, alive way of being.




Details


Medical training and professional experience 

  • Medical studies in Würzburg/Germany and San Francisco/USA (1977 – 1984) 
  • PhD in medicine, magna cum laude (University of Würzburg/Germany) (1986) 
  • Diploma in Public Health (Basel/Switzerland, Marseille/France) (1995) 
  • Specialist in general medicine, Bonn and Mönchengladbach/Germany (1987 – 1992) 
  • Specialist in psychotherapy and psychosomatic medicine, Düsseldorf and Cologne/Germany (2014 - 2019) 
  • Private practice for psychotherapy and coaching since 2019 


Coaching and Organisational Development: training and professional experience 

  • Training in psychodynamic organizational development and business coaching at the POP Institute, Düsseldorf/Germany (2017 -2019) (DBVC/IOBC certified training) 


  • PhD in Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Tilburg/Netherlands, with a thesis on Appreciative Inquiry in organizational development (2011) 


  • Facilitator for Appreciative Inquiry (NTL Institute, USA, Great Britain) (2006 – 2008) 


  • 20 years of work in international cooperation in Asia (1994 – 2014) 
  • Focus: health promotion and participatory organizational development (community empowerment). 
  • Development of state and civil society structures for health promotion. 


India:

  • Volunteer doctor in Kolkata (1986) and in a tuberculosis program in West Bengal (1994 – 2000) (with German Doctors and SHIS, http://shisourstory.com/history/) 


Bangladesh (1994 – 2000)

  • Development of grassroots organizations ( with NETZ-Bangladesch eV and CIM and DASCOH/Swiss Red Cross). 
  • I co-founded NETZ eV in 1989. (https://bangladesch.org) 


Kyrgyzstan (with Swiss Red Cross, 2001 - 2014) (https://www.redcross.ch/it/node/6854) 

  • Development and establishment of the national strategy for health promotion 
  • Construction of hospitals 
  • Development of the national strategy for hospital hygiene and waste management


Publications  

  • More than 20 scientific publications in the field of public health, community empowerment, participatory organizational development and appreciative inquiry. 


Teaching

  • Lecturer in the Master's course in Public Health at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf 
  • Lecturer in the course on Health Care Management in Tropical Countries of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Swiss-TPH, Basel/Switzerland 
  • Lecturer at the POP Institute, "Psychodynamic Organizational Development Personnel Management Düsseldorf eV" 


Awards  

  • Order of the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic (2004) 
  • Letter of thanks from the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan (2014) 
  • Certificate of honor from the governors of the Kyrgyz provinces of Naryn and Talas (2003, 2010) 
  • Honorary Citizen of Kyrgyz Districts (Jumgal, Ak-Tala, Karabura) and Provinces (Naryn and Talas oblast) 


  • First prize of CHNRI International Essay competition 2009 (Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative competition) for the best contribution of research that has led to policy decisions to improve child health and/or nutrition at a national or global level over the last 20 years. My paper detailed our research and advocacy on introducing iron supplements to combat anemia in Kyrgyzstan: "Introducing Sprinkles in Kyrgyzstan: from people's mandate to national policy" 


  • Finalist in the Ashoka Changemaker competition "Improved Nutrition: Solutions through Innovation" with the entry "Power from below: test kits in the hands of retailers pressure producers to iodise salt in Kyrgyzstan" (2010) 


Memberships  

  • Medical Association North Rhine/Germany 
  • DBVC (German Federal Association for Coaching) 
  • IOBC (International Organization for Business Coaching) 
  • POP Institute, "Psychodynamic Organizational Development and Personnel Management Düsseldorf eV" 
  • prevent.on - Experts for individual and company health management 
  • Association for Psychosomatic Medicine, eV Düsseldorf 
  • NETZ-Bangladesch, "NETZ Partnership for Development and Justice eV" (https://bangladesch.org)