On Saturday, March 11, at 12:00 hrs., at the Hostal de los Reyes Católicos in Santiago de Compostela, the Tenth Edition of the Marcial Campos International Prize for Thermal Research was awarded, convened by Termas de Cuntis together with the Society International Hydrothermal Technique and the World Organization of Thermalism, and closed by Mrs. Nava Castro Domínguez, Director of the Galician Tourism Agency.

The act was chaired by the President of the World Organization of Thermalism and Vice President of the International Society of Medical Hydrology Mrs. Antonella Fioravanti, displaced from Italy for this purpose; by D. Juan Jesús Gestal, Emeritus Professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health. Director of the Chair of Medical Hydrology, and by Mr. Andrés Campos Calvo – Sotelo President of the International Society of Hydrothermal Techniques, thus placing the dome of World Thermalism in Santiago de Compostela.

In this edition, the research work entitled “Development of sun creams enriched with extracts of wild forest resources through green extraction technologies with hot springs” presented by Lucía López Hortas, PhD in Agri-food Science and Technology, has received an award.

In his speech, Dr. Gestal highlighted the importance and need for thermal cure to be recognized in the health system, as it is in other countries of the European Union. For her part, the President of the OMth highlighted the priority that research has for the future of thermalism, a fact that is evident in the increasing number of papers published in scientific journals.

D. Andrés Campos pointed out that balneotherapy should be considered as a discipline of medicine as it contributes significantly to the reduction of pharmacological and health costs. He highlighted that in the world there are one hundred million people who go to the thermal centers every year and six hundred thousand of them in Spain. Finally, Mrs. Nava Castro intervened, referring to the different projects that the Xunta is carrying out in relation to spas.

The event was attended by numerous personalities from the university, medical and spa world, as well as the general public.

This award seeks to promote and recognize scientific research on the beneficial properties of hot springs, as well as promote and disseminate their study and application.

The Award was created in 2001, and in its ten editions it has received research papers from many countries in Europe and America.