Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wasem studied economics, political science, and social policy from 1978 to 1983 at Pennsylvania State University, the University of Sussex, and the University of Cologne. He earned his doctorate in economics at the University of Cologne in 1986 and completed his habilitation in health sciences at the University of Bielefeld in 1996.
His professional career includes positions at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (1985–1989), the Cologne University of Applied Sciences (1989–1997, on leave from 1991–1994), and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (1991–1994). He subsequently held professorships at LMU Munich (1997–1999), the University of Greifswald (1999–2003), and, since 2003, at the University of Duisburg-Essen, where he heads the Chair of Health Care Management.
Prof. Wasem has undertaken various arbitration roles in the German healthcare system, serving as Chairman of the Extended Evaluation Committee for outpatient care since 2007, as Chairman of the Arbitration Board for Drug Prices from 2015 to 2019, and as Chairman of the Arbitration Board for the Pricing of Digital Health Applications reimbursed by health insurers since 2020.
From 2009 to 2018, he chaired the Scientific Advisory Board on the Development of Risk Structure Compensation between Health Insurers, appointed by the Federal Ministry of Health. He served on the board of the German Health Economics Association from 2011 to 2016 and again since 2023. Since 2014, he has been a member of the executive committee of the Society for Insurance Science and Design.