Ludwig Apers graduated at the University of Ghent as a medical doctor in 1987. He worked for three years as an independent family doctor, during which he also obtained a master degree in school hygiene. In 1990 he studied tropical medicine at the ITM, after which he took up a post as District Medical Officer for the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare in Zimbabwe. After returning to Belgium he obtained a master degree in public health at the ITM.

After a short period of working for the International Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Ghent, he left again to join the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare in Zimbabwe, as deputy provincial director, responsible for infectious disease control. During that period he started up several research projects in the field of tuberculosis and HIV.

In 2002 he joined the ITM again, where he now mainly works as a clinician in the HIV/STI clinic. In 2008 he obtained his PhD degree, with a thesis entitled 'Aspects of TB control in low income countries with high HIV prevalence', the result of the Zimbabwean research projects.

Besides his clinical work he is still involved in TB/HIV research in Ethiopia, and he coaches students at undergraduate, master and PhD level. He teaches public health topics and tropical medicine to various groups of students at ITM.