Gerhard Wess received his D.V.M. from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany. He completed an Internship at the Clinic of Small Animal Medicine in Zurich, Switzerland, and subsequently a residency in Internal Medicine at the Clinic of Small Animal Medicine in Zurich (ECVIM). He also completed his doctoral thesis in Zurich during this time. During his residency he also spent one year at the veterinary teaching hospital at the University of Georgia, USA.

Subsequently Gerhard completed his second residency in Cardiology at UC Davis, California, USA with his mentors Bill Thomas and Mark Kittleson.

Since 2003 Prof. Gerhard Wess is the head of the cardiology department at the Clinic of Small Animal Medicine at the LMU University Munich, Germany and has built up a cardiology team consisting of up to 12 persons (doctoral students/residents). His residency program is recognized by both the ECVIM and ACVIM.

His clinical and research interests include the diagnosis and medical management of cardiac disease and failure. He has a particular interest in cardiomyopathies in dogs and cats, including genetic research, basic research and clinical trials to evaluate new echocardiographic methods, biomarkers, Holter-ECGs among others as well prospective drug trials. Gerhard Wess is the course director of the ESAVS cardiology modules (I-V) and contributed to the veterinary literature with a vast number of articles, abstracts and book chapters.