ESPA SPEAKERS

Anke Sponer: »Digital Health & Medical Spa Integration«

European Spas Association — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 03:54:59 +0000

Anke Sponer is working and lecturing in the area of (health) tourism management at the European Campus Rottal-Inn, the international faculty of the Deggendorf Institute of Technology. Anke is global networker, speaker and an expert for innovative market strategies, communication and tourism initiatives. Her vision is to further evaluate future-proof and evidence-based approaches to enable people to live healthier and longer lives. That´s why she is pushing the development of an international competence center health & tourism from the Campus.

With a degree in business administration and hotel management she started her professional career over 25 years ago, worked for various media outlets, headed the Marketing and Press Department GSA of Disneyland Resort Paris, ran as Managing Director the international destination marketing agency Aviareps Tourism before she founded her own company CSI Consultancy.

Anke contributes to several local and international associations such as ESPA, Quality in Health Prevention (QUHEP), European Health Tourism Industry (HTI), Health Care Bavaria, American-German Business Club, Marketing Club. Since 2017 she is a local politician in the city of Munich, particularly involved in the areas of health, education, and social affairs.

Prof. Patrick Carpentier

European Spas Association — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 19:14:45 +0000

Patrick Carpentier is Professor Emeritus of Vascular Medicine at the Grenoble – Alpes University in France, past-president of the European Society of Vascular Medicine and the International Union of Angiology, and currently president of the Medical Commission of ESPA.

At the European Spas & Balneology Congress 2025 in Haapsalu, she will participate in the panel discussion “Europe’s Hidden Healthcare Power. Why Spas Belong in the Future of Public Health?”

Dr. Lorena Vela Iglesias: “General and epidemiological aspects”

European Spas Association — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 04:23:56 +0000

Dr. Lorena Vela Iglesias
MD, PhD in Medicine and Specialist in Medical Hydrology at Complutense University of Madrid, where she is Professor and Co-Director of the Research Group on Medical Hydrology. She has participated in over ten European and international research projects and authored scientific articles, books, and book chapters. With broad clinical experience in health resorts in Spain, France, and Argentina, she is an active member of ISMH and the Spanish Society of Medical Hydrology.

Sara Vandamme: “Blue Health & Thermal Resilience”

European Spas Association — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 04:03:57 +0000

Sara Vandamme is a postdoctoral researcher at the Blue Growth Research Lab at Ghent University, where she explores the intersections between ocean environments and human health. Her work focuses on the unique composition of sea air and its potential health benefits, as well as the stress-reducing effects of coastal landscapes. She coordinates interdisciplinary networks and initiatives that foster social innovation in the blue economy.

At the European Spas and Balneology Congress 2025, she will present recent findings on how coastal exposure may support mental and physical wellbeing.

Thorleikur Jóhannsson: “Latest trends in Geothermal SPAs and Lagoons development in Iceland”

European Spas Association — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 03:58:19 +0000

Presented by Thorleikur Jóhannsson, VERKIS Iceland, and Markos Danas, Vice-President, European Historic Thermal Towns Association (EHTTA, advisory partner of GreenSPAS).

Climate Resilience and Energy Efficiency in Thermal Spa Regions.
Strategies for supporting greener, more resilient spa cities and rural destinations, including innovative geothermal solutions from Iceland and the Interreg Europe “GreenSPAS” project on climate change adaptation policies in European spa regions.

Claudia Wagner

European Spas Association — Sat, 04 Oct 2025 06:25:48 +0000

Claudia Wagner is a managing director of Fit Reisen. She is responsible for the area’s product, product development as well as hotel purchasing and -consulting at the Fit Reisen headquarters in Frankfurt am Main.

Since 1982, the graduate business economist of tourism (FH) accompanies and shapes the success story of the company significantly. Due to her expertise in the field of healthy travel in Europe, she discovered the great potential in the areas of wellness, spa, and Ayurveda in the early 90s and started offering Ayurveda treatments in Sri Lanka and later also in India in 1992 – making Fit Reisen the first company to offer Ayurveda holidays in Germany. In 1995 she expanded the Fit Reisen portfolio with health packages focusing on Detox, Anti-Stress, Selfcare, Weight Loss, Wellness Clinic, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in worldwide health resorts. With her many years of experience and expertise in this field and her good sense for trends, she has been continuously expanding the product range ever since. In addition, she advises hotels on how to put together attractive packages. Claudia Wagner sees the focus on one’s own health as the current trend. She explains: “Holistic health is the new status symbol of our time. The desire to be mentally and physically fit into old age is more present than ever and awakens the interest to promote one’s well-being in a preventive way.

Fit Reisen, tour operator for Wellbeing Stays & Health Holidays for 50 years according to our motto “Travel to feel good and stay fit and in shape”.

The portfolio includes 1,100 hotels at 400 destinations in 50 countries with the largest selection of Active Fitness Holidays, revitalizing medical Spa-, Prevention Holidays, Thermal, Kneipp, Fango and Fasting cures, Ayurveda & Yoga Retreats, Wellness in Nature, Health & Spa packages for detox, optimal fitness and weight management , anti-stress , rebalancing and many more. There are many ways to do this, from holistic and natural healing retreats to health spa hotels using the latest in modern spa medicine and medical wellness.

At the European Spas & Balneology Congress 2025 in Haapsalu, she will participate in the panel discussion “Europe’s Hidden Healthcare Power. Why Spas Belong in the Future of Public Health?”

Claude-Eugène Bouvier

European Spas Association — Sat, 04 Oct 2025 06:08:08 +0000

Claude-Eugène Bouvier is a Board Member of the European Spas Association, a Member of the French College of Health Economists, and the former General Secretary of the French Spas Association.

At the European Spas & Balneology Congress 2025 in Haapsalu, she will participate in the panel discussion “Europe’s Hidden Healthcare Power. Why Spas Belong in the Future of Public Health?”

Dr. Meglena Plugtschieva

European Spas Association — Sat, 04 Oct 2025 05:01:10 +0000

Dr. Meglena Plugtschieva is the Ambassador of BUBSPA. She has served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to Montenegro, to the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein, and to the Federal Republic of Germany. Throughout her distinguished career, Dr. Plugtschieva has also held the positions of Deputy Prime Minister and Member of Parliament of the Republic of Bulgaria. In recognition of her significant contributions to diplomacy and international relations, she has been awarded the Federal Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (“Cross of Merit 1st Class” and “Grand Cross of Merit with Star”), as well as the Medal of Merit of Montenegro.

At the European Spas & Balneology Congress 2025 in Haapsalu, she will participate in the panel discussion “Europe’s Hidden Healthcare Power. Why Spas Belong in the Future of Public Health?” She will give insight into how to think from a political person’s perspective to lobby for health, innovation, and tourism.

Ing. Alina Huseynli, MBA

European Spas Association — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 07:07:39 +0000

Alina Huseynli is the Director and Board Member of the Institute of Spa and Balneology. She is the author of the flagship project “Spa Research Centre”, funded by the EU’s Just Transition Fund, which has established a unique multidisciplinary research platform for medical, environmental, and socio-economic aspects of spa care. With a strong background in environmental studies and healthcare management, she is also completing her doctoral studies, focusing on the role of spa care in the prevention and treatment of lifestyle diseases.

As an active member of the Scientific Committee of the European Historic Thermal Towns Association (EHTTA) and a frequent speaker at international conferences, she contributes to advancing spa and health tourism across Europe.

At the European Spas & Balneology Congress 2025 in Haapsalu, she will participate in the panel discussion “Europe’s Hidden Healthcare Power. Why Spas Belong in the Future of Public Health?”. In her opening statement, she will emphasize the crucial role of spas within the public healthcare system and highlight their potential in prevention, rehabilitation, and overall public health strategies.

Linda Lancere: “Virtual mental and physical health – integration aspects”

European Spas Association — Sun, 28 Sep 2025 18:50:11 +0000

Dr. sc. ing. Linda Lancere is a digital rehabilitation expert, physcial therapist and researcher at the Virtual and Augmented Reality Laboratory of the Institute of Sociotechnical Systems Engineering at ViA – Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences.

Her topic addresses how virtual reality solutions for mental and physical health — from burnout support to rehabilitation — face specific challenges during introduction, testing, and integration. These challenges often arise not only from the technology itself, but from the need to align with user needs, clinical workflows, and long-term sustainability. Practical lessons learned will highlight integration aspects that help transform promising prototypes into usable, high-value health solutions.

Margrét Grímsdóttir: “Long-Term Effects of Rehabilitation Following Burnout: What works?”

European Spas Association — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 15:36:49 +0000

Mrs. Margrét Grímsdóttir is the Director of Nursing for Heilsutofnun NLFI, a Rehabilitation clinic in Iceland. She has long-term experience working with patients in physical and psychiatric rehabilitation settings, in Iceland and USA. She has specialised in burnout, recovery and the role of rehabilitation in restoring function and well-being.

In her presentation, “Long-Term Effects of Rehabilitation Following Burnout: What works?” she shares findings from a qualitative research study focusing on the experience of individuals who have undergone inpatient rehabilitation following severe burnout. The study explores the long term effect on emotional and cognitive recovery over time, and how medical rehabilitation programs with the empahizes on natural remedies may support sustained improvements in well-being and quality of life.

Through in-depth interviews, the research reveals key themes that contribute to long-term recovery, including the importance of utilizing natural remedies and healing through nature. The aim of this presentation is to offer insights that may help improve rehabilitation strategies for individuals suffering from burnout and stress-related disorders.

Aleš Příhoda: “Virtual Reality – New Trend in Medical Spa Treatments”

European Spas Association — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 13:48:50 +0000

Ing. Mgr. Aleš Příhoda is working at the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering CTU in Prague and in Medical Spa Hotels and Resorts Royal Spa, Inc.

At the European Spas and Balneology congress 2025, he will be talking about Virtual reality.
He explained: “Virtual reality has experienced dynamic development in recent years, not only in the field of rehabilitation and spas. The Czech startup VR Medical, s.r.o. has become the number one on the Czech market in recent years, and experts from the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the Czech Technical University or the Institute of Spas and Balneology, v.v.i. also participated in the development of the technology.

The use of technology in spas brings many benefits, not only for clients, but also for the spa facilities themselves. The clinical effect has been proven by many studies on a wide range of indications, and further studies are underway.

The reference spa facilities using VR Medical virtual reality technology include, for example, Medical Spa Hotels and Resorts Royal Spa or Lázně Darkov, which won ESPA Innovation Awards in previous years. VR medical was the first to bring unique lower limb and gait therapy to VR rehabilitation, they have detailed reporting, not only for individual therapy, but also for group therapy. Group therapy in VR brings greater efficiency for medical facilities and at the same time increases the quality of movement therapy.

We push the boundaries of the world of rehabilitation with a form supported by clinical evidence.”