We are thrilled to share another exciting update for the upcoming 18th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine (ICBM 2025), taking place from August 6-9, 2025, at the University of Vienna, Austria!
This year’s theme, Advancing Global Health Equity through Science, Education, and Advocacy, promises a diverse program with dynamic sessions designed to inspire and connect behavioral medicine professionals worldwide.
Meet Our Keynote Speakers
At ICBM 2025, we are honored to present some of the most influential voices in the field as our keynote speakers:
Annette L. Stanton
University of California, Los Angeles
Annette Stanton is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at UCLA and member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. An author of more than 250 publications, she identifies factors that promote or impede well-being and health in adults diagnosed with cancers of the breast, eye, lung, and pancreas as well as tests associated interventions.
Urte Scholz
University of Zurich
Urte Scholz is a Professor of Applied Social and Health Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. Her research aims to understand and capitalize on the role of social relationships in the health behaviors of individuals and dyads in their everyday lives.
Michael A. Hoyt
University of California, Irvine
Michael Hoyt is a professor in the Department of Population Health & Disease Prevention and Director of the Behavioral Medicine Research Lab at the University of California, Irvine. His research is focused on biobehavioral processes associated with quality-of-life in those facing chronic illness.
Julian F. Thayer
University of California, Irvine
Dr. Thayer is Distinguished Professor of Psychological Science at the University of California, Irvine and the Ohio Eminent Scholar Professor in Health Psychology Emeritus at The Ohio State University. He has published over 500 research papers and is one of the world’s leading experts on heart rate variability.
Odette Wegwarth
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Odette Wegwarth is the Heisenberg Professor of Medical Risk Literacy and Evidence-Based Decision-Making at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and a Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin.
Winnie Mak
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Winnie W. S. Mak is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
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In recognition of her research and expertise in the fields of medical risk literacy and risk communication, she has received the prestigious Early Investigator Award from the American Society of Behavioral Medicine (USA) and the Dr. Lothar Beyer Prize from the German Society of General and Family Medicine (DEGAM). She regularly advises the World Health Organization (WHO) and other political institutions, including the German Federal Chancellery, on matters related to educating doctors and patients about medical risks. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was appointed as an expert to the social-science expert panel for pandemic preparedness by the Senate of Berlin. In 2020, Odette Wegwarth was appointed to the esteemed Heisenberg Excellence Program of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and awarded a Heisenberg Professorship for her outstanding contributions to advancing the understanding of medical risk literacy and evidence-based decision-making.
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She obtained her PhD in clinical psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Science, Society for Community Research and Action, and Hong Kong Psychological Society. Her research focuses on stigma and diversity, digital mental health, and application of Buddhist psychology for well-being and social equality. Her talk will discuss how digital technology can be leveraged to reduce stigma, integrate self-care into our everyday lives to promote and maintain one’s mental wellness, and augment existing mental health services to create a more comprehensive and personalized service system, especially in places where mental health resources are scarce and evidence-based services are inaccessible.
Philippa Diedrichs
University of the West of England Bristol
Professor Phillippa Diedrichs is an award-winning researcher at the Centre for Appearance Research (UWE Bristol) and a consultant known internationally for developing and evaluating evidence-based strategies to improve body image and mental health in digital, community, corporate, and policy settings.
Join us in Vienna!
Don’t miss this chance to engage with their groundbreaking insights and explore the newest advances in behavioral medicine! Learn more at about ICBM 2025 and the speakers at: https://icbm2025.com/meet-the-speakers/
