After completing medical school in Basel, Prof Erb trained for his MD at the University of Basel before starting his clinical education in Basel, Chur and Aarau. He completed his training with board examinations in anaesthesiology and critical care. Subsequently, he moved to Durham, North Carolina, USA, where he worked in the Pediatric Cardiology Program at Duke University. There, he completed research on right ventricular physiology and obtained a master of health sciences in clinical research. Returning to Switzerland in 2000, Prof Erb started his clinical research programme in the Department of Anaesthesiology at the University of Basel and University Children’s Hospital Basel (UKBB). In 2010, he became Titular Professor of Anaesthesiology, and in 2011 he was made Head of the Division of Paediatric Anaesthesia at UKBB. Dr Erb’s clinical interests and research are focused on the effects of anaesthetic conditions on airway and lung mechanics in children. The goal of his work is to improve understanding and monitoring of anaesthesia-related alterations of the respiratory system, ultimately improving safety in children undergoing anaesthesia.