He became an associate professor in 1910, and practiced medicine at the Charité Hospital in Berlin prior to and after World War I.
In 1935 Brugsch resigned from the university due to the political climate in 1930s Germany, subsequently opening a private practice in Berlin.
[1] After World War II, he returned to the Charité, which was now in East Berlin, and where he stayed for the remainder of his career.
He was the 1954 recipient of the Goethe Prize, and in 1978 was depicted on a 25-pfennig postage stamp issued by the East German government.
[2] After retiring in 1957, he was appointed vice-president of the nation's Cultural Association (KB / Deutsche Kulturbund).