Professor Wimmer is currently the Grainger Director of the Rush Arthritis and Orthopedics Institute, Director of the Rush Tribology and Human Motion laboratories and Professor and Associate Chairman for Research at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

He holds co-joint professorships in the Departments of Anatomy and Cell Biology, and in the Division of Rheumatology, as well as an adjunct professorship in Bioengineering at UIC. He gained his PhD at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg, Germany. His thesis focused on the wear of the polyethylene component in artificial knee joints. His subsequent research has expanded into the kinematics of gait and the wear and corrosion processes of other bearings including metal-on-metal.

He is a member of many biomaterial and orthopaedic research societies and has been an active participant in the implant section of the ORS. His research in biotribology and tribocorrosion has been recognized with numerous awards including the HAP Paul award from ISTA.

In 1995 he was invited to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, USA where he actively worked on three dimensional morphologic analysis of hip joints as an assistant Professor with Prof Philip C Noble. He developed a CT-based navigation system with his computer scientist colleagues at Osaka University, and its clinical trial started in 1998. The results of this research were employed in the design of hip joint implants for Japanese patients. Dr Sugano has received international recognition for his research including the Otto-AuFranc Award from the Hip Society, and the Maurice E. Müller Award for Excellence in Computer Assisted Surgery.

His ongoing interest in computer aided orthopaedics led him to play the role of leading orthopaedic surgeon in this growing area of hip and knee arthroplasty.