In 1878 he earned his doctorate from the University of Bern, and subsequently became an assistant to Ludwig Lichtheim (1845–1915) in Bern. Afterwards, he traveled to Leipzig, where he worked under Julius Friedrich Cohnheim (1839–1884) and Carl Weigert (1845–1904). He returned to Bern as an assistant at Lichtheim's policlinic, and in 1888 became a professor of internal medicine.