His areas of expertise are wide-ranging, including experimental and clinical studies of multiple injury/neurotrauma; Sepsis, acute pain, and chronification; outcomes research (pain, quality of life, patient satisfaction); evidence-based medicine with meta-analyses and systematic reviews; registries; and surgical clinical trials. He has more than 1000 scientific publications including over 600 original articles and is the Editor of 14 scientific books. His many distinctions include awards and prizes from the German Association of Surgery, the German Surgical Society, the German Society of Traumatology, and the Society of complex acute illness ( SCAI). He has also been appointed as Prof honoris causa at the Southern Medical School in Ghuangzhou, China and Dr.h.c. at the University of Malaga/Spain.