Holzgreve graduated from the School of Medicine, the Westf. Wilhelm University, Münster, FRG in 1975. Between 1975-1976, he completed the degree of Master of Science in Health and Medical Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. Between 1976-1978, he had further studies at the School of Medicine in Münster, FRG, and finishing his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Münster, in 1982. Between 1982-1984, he completed a Fellowship of the German Research Foundation in Reproductive Genetics, at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, USA. The Program Director was Mitchell S. Golbus, M.D. Holzgreve was Board Certified in Clinical Genetics and Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1985.
By 1991, he had risen to the rank of Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Geschäftsf. Oberarzt, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Münster. In August 1995, he moved to Switzerland to take up his present appointment as Chairman of the Department and Chief of Service at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Basel.
Holzgreve is indeed an out-of-the-ordinary researcher, scientific innovator and teacher; as well as a prolific writer and leader in his various fields of research in perinatal medicine, prenatal diagnostic procedures, and clinical and molecular genetics. Much of his current work centered around stem cell research and the retrieval of fetal cells and free fetal DNA from maternal blood, and cytogenentic diagnosis using these cells. In the mid-1990s he had pioneered the detection of fetal DNA in maternal blood by PCR. transabdominal first trimester embryoscopy as a tool to early in-utero stem cell transplantation and gene therapy was also ground breaking. Earlier he had also published on important and innovative pioneering work and techniques on amniocentesis, chorionic villi sampling, cytogenetic diagnosis, fetal reduction, placental biopsy, and in-utero fetal therapy.
His publications had numbered more than 500 articles in important peer-reviewed scientific journals, 180 book chapters, 6 books, 400 abstracts at scientific meetings, and more than 400 oral presentations at postgraduate courses and seminars! Holzgreve is on the editorial Board of many important journals and is a reviewer for the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Journal of Pediatrics, Prenatal Diagnosis, Human Genetics, Journal of Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology, American Journal of Medical Genetics, Schweizerische Medizinische Wochenschrift, Gene, and Human Reproduction. These appointments demonstrated the span and weight of his work. He is presently Editor in Chief of the journals: Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy and Zeitschrift für Geburtshilfe und Neonatologie Reproduktionsmedizin.
Holzgreve has also received numerous prize and awards: In 1986, the Prize of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine: in 1988, the Bi-annual Perinatology Prize of the German Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics; in 1988, Honorary Member of the "Yugoslav Association of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology"; in 1989, Annual prize of the Drs. Haackert-Foundation for the advancement of Prenatal Medicine; in 1990, the Nourypharma-fellowship of the German Societies of Gynecology and Obstetrics; in 1993, Prize of the German Society for Perinatal Medicine "Maternité"; in 1994, "Doctor honoris causa" degree of the Medical University of Debrecen, Hungary; in 1995, Forschungspreis der Werner G. Gehring-Stiftung. In 2001, Holzgreve received the distinguished Liley Medal from "The Fetus as a Patient".
Prof. Holzgreve is also currently the President of the International Society "The Fetus as a Patient", the German Society of Reproductive Medicine, and the Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the World Federation of Perinatal Medicine.