[5] Reinke attended Neustrelitz High School and was later transferred to Große Stadtschule, today referred to as Goethe-Schule, in Rostock in 1882, where he graduated in 1883.

On completion of his internship, Reinke served as a ship's doctor on the passenger liner Weiland bound for Brazil where he visited some members of his family.

[8] Subsequently, Professor Albert von Brunn offered Reinke the position of first demonstrator at the Anatomical Institute of the University of Rostock, perhaps through the intercession of Dr Lubarsch.

His habilitation thesis, reviewed and defended before committee, was entitled Zellstudien (Cellular Studies), an investigation of the cell structure in the germ layer of the human skin.

[10] On 1 April 1893 Reinke assumed his first academic position as first demonstrator at the Anatomical Institute in Rostock under the direction of Professor Albert von Brunn.

In April 1895, Professor von Brunn suffered a fatal cardiac arrest, and Reinke was appointed interim director of the Anatomical Institute in his place.

[13] Reinke's second publication concerning the larynx, Über die funktionelle Struktur der menschlichen Stimmlippen mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des elastischen Gewebes (On the functional structure of the human vocal folds with special consideration of the elastic tissue), dates to this contentious period in his life.

Reasons cited in his personnel file include friction with Barfurth, neglect of his teaching responsibilities, refusal to obey instructions, and his free-form approach to holidays and vacations.

In 1907, while still maintaining his faculty appointment in medicine at Rostock, Reinke assumed a position as demonstrator at the urban hospital in Wiesbaden under Professor Gotthold Herxheimer.

Über direkte Kernteilung und Kernschwund der menschlichen Leberzellen (About the direct nuclear division and nuclear decrease of the human liver cells) Kurzes Lehrbuch der Anatomie des Menschen für Studirende und Aerzte mit genauster Berücksichtigung der Baseler anatomischen Nomenclatur (Short textbook of human anatomy for students and physicians with most exact consideration of the anatomical nomenclature of Basel) Über den mitotischen Druck.