Professor Radbruch has researched and published on symptom assessment, opioid treatment, fatigue, cachexia and ethical issues in palliative care, with funding from the European Commission, German Research Foundation, German Cancer Aid and German Ministry of Research and Education. He is co-author of the German textbook on palliative medicine and editor of ‘Der Schmerz’, and a member of the Leopoldina National Academy of Science. He has been a commissioner of the Lancet Commission on Palliative Care from 2015 to 2017. Professor Radbruch is president of the German Association for Palliative Medicine and of the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care.