Dr Harald Johan Hamre was born in 1958 in Bergen, Norway. He worked for 2½ years in anthroposophic clinics in Germany and Spain and for eight years as a community-affiliated general practitioner in Norway. Since 1997 he is a research scientist at the Institute for Applied Epistemology and Medical Methodology at the University of Witten-Herdecke, Freiburg, Germany.

His main research field has been clinical studies into the effectiveness, costs and safety of anthroposophic treatment in outpatient settings, where he has conducted two large multicentre studies: the AMOS study of chronic disease and the IIPCOS-Anthroposophy study of acute respiratory and ear infections. Other research interests include the methodology of observational cohort studies and single-case studies, bias in clinical research, and the safety of dental amalgam.

2005-2012 he was advisor, senior advisor, and project manager for the Norwegian Directorate of Health. Dr Hamre is founding member, president, and scientific director of the European Scientific Cooperative for Anthroposophic Medicinal Products. He has published two books and ca. 120 articles, papers, book chapters and monographs.