Athens 2026 – International Exchange of Professionals in Medicine: A Global Gala Technology Platform for Medical Sciences, Innovation, and Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Gerhard Litscher ^*

1. Swiss University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, High-Tech Acupuncture and Digital Chinese Medicine, Bad Zurzach, Switzerland; President of the International Society for Medical Laser Applications (ISLA transcontinental; since 2012), German Vice President of the German-Chinese Research Foundation (DCFG) for TCM (since 2014), Vice Chairperson, World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, Committee of Card. Rehab. (2023-2028), Honorary President of the European Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Societies, Honorary President of the American Society for Laser Acupuncture Therapy (ASLAT); Honorary Professor of China Beijing International Acupuncture Training Center, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Distinguished Honorary Professor of the Macau Wang Qi Academy of Macau University of Science and Technology, China (2026), Former Head of two Research Units and the TCM Research Center at the Medical University of Graz, Austria, Europe

* Correspondence: Gerhard Litscher

Special Issue: Photobiomodulation: Past, Present and Future

Received: April 19, 2026 | Accepted: April 20, 2026 | Published: April 20, 2026

OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine 2026, Volume 11, Issue 2, doi:10.21926/obm.icm.2602014

Recommended citation: Litscher G. Athens 2026 – International Exchange of Professionals in Medicine: A Global Gala Technology Platform for Medical Sciences, Innovation, and Interdisciplinary Collaboration. OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine 2026; 11(2): 014; doi:10.21926/obm.icm.2602014.

© 2026 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the conditions of the Creative Commons by Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is correctly cited.

1. Introduction – Scientific Concept and Global Framework

The editorial reflects on a congress dedicated to interdisciplinary exchange, translational medicine, and international cooperation as core drivers of modern healthcare innovation (Figure 1) [1]. Scientific moderation and overall congress coordination were provided by Prof. Gerhard Litscher, President of the International Society for Medical Laser Applications (ISLA).

Figure 1 Global scientific network of the International Exchange of Professionals 2026. International participation and interdisciplinary connectivity across more than 40 countries.

2. Opening Cocktail – Scientific Speed Networking with Panoramic View of the Acropolis of Athens

The congress commenced on April 14, 2026, with an Opening Cocktail. The evening was moderated by the author of this editorial, emphasizing the connection between classical knowledge traditions and contemporary scientific congress culture.

A key narrative element of the opening remarks from Gerhard Litscher was the illustration of scientific exchange across time. Reference was made to an early philosophical tradition in Athens around 430 BCE, when knowledge development was already rooted in questioning, observation, and interdisciplinary dialogue. This historical perspective was used to emphasize that modern medical innovation continues to rely on the same principles of curiosity and cross-disciplinary communication. Further, the evolution of scientific congress culture was highlighted by referencing the emergence of modern international scientific meetings around 1900 in Europe, which formalized structured interdisciplinary exchange. The continuity from these early congress traditions to the present meeting in 2026 in Athens underscores the long-standing trajectory of collaborative science. In this context, the Acropolis was not only presented as a symbolic landmark, but also as a metaphor for the continuity of knowledge from antiquity to contemporary global science.

The strategic framework of the congress was introduced by Dr. Xiaodan Mei, President of BIT Group Global and Executive Director of the Meeting, who outlined the international vision of the event (Figure 2).

Figure 2 Opening Cocktail and Scientific Networking with Panoramic View of the Acropolis of Athens. Informal interdisciplinary exchange under scientific moderation (right photo: Gerhard Litscher (left) and Xiaodan Mei (right)).

3. Opening Ceremony and Keynote Forum – Scientific Core Program

The Opening Ceremony and Keynote Forum took place on April 15, 2026, establishing the scientific structure of the congress (Figure 3).

Figure 3 Host and Moderator of the events: Prof. Gerhard Litscher, Austria/Switzerland.

Institutional welcome contributions included:

• Dr. Xiaodan Mei, President of BIT Group Global and Executive Director of the Meeting – Organizing Committee, and strategic leadership.
• Prof. Dr. Efstathios P. Efstathopoulos, Vice Rector for Research and Innovation, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) – Representation of Greece.
• Prof. Dr. Christian Berger, President of the European Association of Dental Implantologists – Professional societies and clinical translation.

Keynote Forum speakers (Figure 4):

• Dr. Ulrich A.K. Betz, Senior Vice President Innovation, Merck (Germany) [2]
• Prof. Dr. Efstathios Efstathopoulos, Professor of Medical Physics, NKUA (Greece) [3]
• Prof. Dr. Harry W. M. Steinbusch, Maastricht University (Netherlands) [4]
• Dr. Jesper Lau, Associate Scientific Vice President, Novo Nordisk (Denmark) [5]
• Prof. Dr. Zhi Qiang Yao, East Tennessee State University (USA) [6]
• Prof. Dr. Vladimir Muzykantov, University of Pennsylvania (USA) [7]
• Prof. Dr. Heinz-Peter Schultheiss, Charité Berlin (Germany) [8] and
• Prof. Dr. Anil K. Dutta, University of Texas Health Science Center (USA) [9]

Figure 4 Keynote Forum multidisciplinary presentations. International biomedical keynote lectures under the moderation of Gerhard Litscher. Opening Lecture by Dr. Ulrich A.K. Betz, Senior Vice President Innovation, Merck (Germany).

4. Welcome Banquet – Scientific Community and Cultural Exchange

The Welcome Banquet was also moderated by the presenter of this editorial and held at the Radisson Blu Park Hotel (Figure 5).

Figure 5 Welcome Banquet and cultural performance. Scientific networking and cultural exchange in a structured gala setting.

Opening evening addresses were delivered by selected conference chairs and the leader of the organizing committee:

• Prof. Dr. George Albert Karikas, Greece
• Prof. Dr. Vladimir Muzykantov, USA
• Prof. Dr. Ionel I. Mangalagiu, Romania, and
• Dr. Xiaodan Mei, China

A traditional cultural performance from Greece enriched the interdisciplinary atmosphere.

5. Scientific Structure – Clustered Congress System

The event consisted of nine parallel scientific congress domains (Figure 6):

• Oncology
• Cardiology
• Neuroscience
• Infectious Diseases
• Orthopaedics
• Gynaecology and Obstetrics
• Digestive Diseases
• Drug Discovery
• Oral and Dental Medicine

Figure 6 Selected speakers of the World Cancer Congress (WCC) 2026 representing a global and multidisciplinary network from Austria, France, India, Romania, Switzerland, Taiwan, etc., illustrating the scientific diversity and international collaboration of the congress. As an example of this international cooperation, joint publications (both Q1 journals) arising from earlier WCC collaborations are exemplarily listed in the reference section [10,11]. They may serve as a single thematic focus for the upcoming congress in Bucharest in 2027.

6. Concluding Remarks and Future Perspective

The Athens 2026 congress demonstrated high scientific quality, strong interdisciplinary integration, and global participation. The structured moderation ensured scientific coherence across all central program components. The International Exchange of Professionals in Medicine 2026 confirmed that future medical innovation relies on sustained international collaboration and cross-disciplinary scientific dialogue. The next congress will take place in Bucharest, Romania, June 16-18, 2027, again under the continued scientific host and moderation by Prof. Gerhard Litscher (more information: belinda@eventcommitte.com).

Author Contributions

The author did all the research work for this study.

Funding

No financial support.

Competing Interests

The author hereby declares that no conflict of interests exists in connection with the publication of this editorial.

Data Availability Statement

All photos © G. Litscher.

AI-Assisted Technologies Statement

An AI tool (ChatGPT by OpenAI, GPT-5.2) was used for the initial translation of this contribution from German into English, linguistic editing and paraphrasing of selected paragraphs. The author has carefully reviewed and edited the final version, which was also polished by a native speaker. The author takes full responsibility for the content of the manuscript.