Gerhard obtained his PhD at the University of Regensburg. He is research associate at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine at the University Hospital of Regensburg and responsible for the instrumental analytics lab (https://lipidomics-regensburg.de/).

His research interests focus on the development of mass spectrometric methods for quantification of lipid species. For more than 20 years, these methods have been applied in large-scale clinical studies and basic research including the use of stable isotope labelled lipid(s)/-precursor to trace the transport and metabolism of lipids. He is a co-author of more than 200 papers in peer reviewed international journals, editorial board member of The Journal of Lipid Research.

He is a co-founder of the Lipidomics Standards Initiative and a board member in the International Lipidomics Society.