Bernhard H. Liese was born in Fassberg, Germany in 1942. He earned degrees at the University of Bonn (MD, 1969 and D.Sc., Malariology, 1971) and Harvard University School of Public Health (MPH, 1976). Liese worked for several years as health project manager and director of a nursing and midwifery school for the Ministry of Health in Cameroon. Later, he oversaw the Health Policy Desk in the Federal Ministry of Health in Germany.

Liese joined the World Bank Group (WBG) in 1976 as a public health assistant in the Office of the Environment and Health Affairs (VPSEH, later CPSEH) situated under the Projects Advisory Staff (PAS) of the Central Projects Vice Presidency (CPS). He became a public health specialist (CPSEH) in 1978 and then moved to the Population Projects Department (POPD1) in 1979.

In early 1980, Liese served as deputy director, Division II (PHND2) in the newly created Population, Health, and Nutrition Department (PHN) and was responsible for lending operations and analytic work in Latin America, East Asia, and West Africa regions. From 1985 to 1990, he was a senior public health specialist, first in the Office of the Director, PHN, then later in the Population, Health and Nutrition Division (PHRHN) that was formed in the Bank-wide 1987 reorganization.

In 1985, while continuing in his role as senior public health specialist, Liese became the Bank's representative to constituent bodies of certain World Health Organization (WHO)-led multi-donor programs. The programs in which Liese contributed include the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), Onchocerciasis Control Program (OCP), and the WHO Division of Diarrhoeal and Respiratory Disease Control (CDR).

From July 1990 to 1999, Liese served as director, Health Services Department (HSDDR) for WBG and International Monetary Fund staff. He also continued coordinating the Bank's TDR activities and overseeing the OCP program to eradicate river blindness in West Africa and the African Progamme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC). A separate but similar program, APOC launched in 1995 by the Bank Group and its partners to target the disease in the remaining endemic countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.

In February 2000, Liese moved to the Africa Regional Vice Presidency (AFRVP) sector unit Human Development front office (AFTHD) where he was a senior public health adviser. From 2002 to 2010 he served as a consultant in AFR. Liese departed the Bank in 2015 following a consultancy with Independent Evaluation Group Country, Corporate, and Global Evaluations (IEGCC).