Prof. Dr Jost Langhorst
Director, Department for Internal and Integrative Medicine, Bamberg Hospital, Department and Chair
for Integrative Medicine – Translational Gastroenterology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Bamberg
Hospital
Prof. Langhorst completed his medical studies at the University of Münster, the University of
California San Francisco, and Harvard Medical School Boston. His clinical and scientific training
included positions at the University Hospital for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy
Düsseldorf (Prof. Dr. Dr. W. Tress), the Medical Clinic of the Evangelical Hospital Düsseldorf (Prof. Dr.
H. Neuhaus), the University Hospital for Gastroenterology and Hepatology Essen (Prof. Dr. G.
Gerken), and the Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine at Kliniken Essen-Mitte (Prof. Dr.
G. Dobos).
He earned his doctoral degree (Dr. med., magna cum laude) from the University of Münster in 1995.
He is board-certified in Internal Medicine with a specialization in gastroenterology and holds
additional qualifications in naturopathy, psychotherapy, physical medicine and balneology.
International research fellowships include the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine,
Massechussetts General Hospital in Boston and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New
York City. He completed his habilitation in 2008 at the University of Duisburg-Essen on “Multimodal
concepts for structured lifestyle modification in the treatment of chronic inflammatory bowel
diseases.”
Prof. Langhorst served for many years as senior physician and co-director of the Department of
Internal and Integrative Medicine at Kliniken Essen-Mitte and held the Chair for Integrative Medicine
at the University of Duisburg-Essen. From 2011 to 2018, he was Head Physician of Integrative
Gastroenterology and Director of the outpatient clinic at Kliniken Essen-Mitte. In 2017, he was
appointed to a W3 Professorship in Integrative Medicine with focus on translational
gastroenterology.
Since 2019, he is director of the Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine at Bamberg
Hospital, a hospital of maximun care, and since 2020 holds the endowed chair in Integrative
Medicine with focus on translational gastroenterology at the University of Duisburg-Essen, based in
Bamberg.
He has contributed to and co-authored more than 40 national and international medical guidelines,
including S3 and S2 guidelines of the AWMF. His extensive committee work includes roles as
spokesperson of the advisory board of the German Crohn ́s and Colitis Organisation – DCCV – in the
field of complementary medicine, spokesperson of the DGVS working group on psychosomatics in
gastroenterology, and guideline officer for both the Society for Phytotherapy and the German Society
for Naturopathy. He also serves as an expert advisor to the German Science Council.
For more than 25 years, Prof. Langhorst has led investigator-initiated trials and multicenter studies as
principal investigator and study center head. His work has been supported by more than €12 million
in competitive third-party funding from organizations including the German Research Foundation,
the Federal Ministry of Education and Research Germany, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the
Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, as well as several national foundations and industry partners.
His current research focuses on lifestyle and multimodal integrative therapeutic strategies in chronic
diseases, the integration of complementary and integrative medicine into medical guidelines,
placebo and nocebo mechanisms, non-invasive diagnostic approaches in gastroenterology, and
translational research on mucosal immunity and intestinal barrier function.
Prof. Langhorst has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed publications in leading international
journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Cell Metabolism, Gut, Pain, and The
American Journal of Gastroenterology, as well as more than 300 scientific articles and book
contributions overall.