The chair was founded in 1996 and named after the physician and academic with postdoctoral lecturing qualification Dr Gerhard Kienle (1923 - 1983), the main founder of the Herdecke Community Hospital and co-founder of Witten/Herdecke University.

Gerhard Kienle was an early advocate of a sustainable reform of medicine in terms of scientific theory. In particular, the focus should be on providing personal assistance to the sick person.

The commitment of the Chair began in 1997 with Prof. Peter R. Matthiessen, MD, a nationally and internationally recognised expert in complementary medicine and an appropriate diversity of methods in science.

In the academic debate, Peter Matthiessen has convincingly contrasted the enormous potential of increasingly science-orientated research with the indispensable humanities and humanistic side of health and illness.

Together with the then President of the German Medical Association, Professor Jörg Hoppe, he launched the "Dialogue Forum for Pluralism in Medicine" in 2000. Professor Peter Heusser, Chair from 2009-2017, provided a solid foundation for this impulse through his extensive research into the foundations of anthroposophic medicine.

Co-founder of the Witten/Herdecke University