Walter Häfeli studied medicine in Basel (Switzerland) followed by further training as a medical specialist in inner medicine and clinical pharmacology at the Department of Inner Medicine at the State Hospital of Basel. Between 1990 and 1992 he conducted research at Stanford University (USA) investigating the regulation of venous tone in hand veins. In 1993 he returned to Switzerland where he assumed an Assistant Medical Director position under Prof. Lüscher. In 1995 he was appointed Professor in Clinical Pharmacology at the University Heidelberg (Germany) and Director of the University Clinic in Heidelberg.