His father was a prominent physician and, as a captain in the medical corps, was called to active army duty at the outbreak of World War I. Hans Popper received a classical education at the Akademische Gymnasium[6] and followed his father's footsteps by entering the Medical School of the University of Vienna in 1922 and graduating in 1928.
Popper spent his five postgraduate years in anatomical pathology and established a biochemical laboratory,[7] which was a new field of medical research.
He worked under the famous Viennese physician Professor Hans Eppinger, under whose influence he developed his interest in hepatology.
[6] He received a research fellowship at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago and earned a Ph.D. in pathology at the University of Illinois.
[8] He became Scientific Director for the Hektoen Institute for Medical Research and Professor of Pathology at Northwestern University School of Medicine.