Wolfgang Gaebel is Professor of Psychiatry, Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Heinrich-Heine University, Duesseldorf, and Medical Director of the LVR-Klinikum Düsseldorf. Since 2014 he is additionally Director of the LVR-Institute for Mental Healthcare Research (LVR-IVF) and the WHO Collaborating Center on Quality Management and Empowerment in Mental Health.

During his career, Professor Gaebel has held positions as President of the German Society of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Nervous Diseases (DGPPN). Furthermore, he was President of the German Society of Biological Psychiatry (DGBP). He is currently chairman of the WPA Section on Schizophrenia as well as chairman of the WPA Section on Quality Assurance. Since 2009 he is Board Member of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA), co-chair of the Section on Schizophrenia and he coordinates the EPA Guidance Project. Since 2015 he is President of the EPA. He is also chairman of the German Alliance on Mental Health.

His research focus includes clinical, pharmacological, and neurophysiological aspects of schizophrenia, experimental psychopathology and classification, treatment guidelines and quality management, and research on stigma and discrimination. His current interest is also on the revision of classification towards ICD-11 and DSM-5.

Professor Gaebel has published more than 700 scientific articles, he is editor/author of about 50 books/supplements on a range of scientific topics, he is member of the editorial boards of various national/international journals, and editor in chief of the bilingual journal 'Die Psychiatrie'