Board
Since April 2023, the following board of the "Austrian Association of Osteopathy" consists of five active members.
Margit Halbfurter-Mandler, MSc D.O.
President
Margit Halbfurter is Osteopath (WSO) and Pediatric Osteopath (OZK). She lives and works in Villach. She completed her training at the WSO in 2015 with a master's degree. In the master's thesis, she dealt with the topic 'leaky gut', which she is still very interested and accompanied. Margit teaches at the WSO as an assistant and tutor. It is her great concern to work for the recognition of osteopathy as a profession in Austria, to secure the high level of education.
Thomas Marschall, MSc D.O
Vice president, cashier
Since 2005 he has been working as a freelance osteopath in Salzburg in his Physiopower health center. In and for his work, interdisciplinary work and the exchange between the various health professions is important to him for optimal care of his patients. He completed his osteopathic training (IAO) in 2016.
Sebastian Soika, MSc D.O.
Science & secretary
Since 2017 he has been working as an osteopath in Lienz, East Tyrol, in his own practice. He completed his osteopathic training at the International Academy of Osteopathy (IAO). His personal interests are in the field of philosophical or original osteopathy, in the field of science and professional training.
Susanne Handl, D.O.
International representative
She completed her training in osteopathy at the WSO in 2021. As a physiotherapist, she has been working freelance in her own practice in St. Leonhard am Forst, Lower Austria, since 2000. She also teaches at the WSO as an assistant and works as a supervisor and clinic tutor.
Cooperation with the various healthcare professions is just as important to her as her work in training and supporting osteopathy students. The recognition of osteopathy as a separate profession is an important step for Susanne to ensure the best possible patient care and safety.
Dr. Toni Huber, D.O.
Second secretary
Toni Huber completed his medical studies at the Technical University of Munich in 2008. He then worked for five years at the Altötting and Burghausen hospitals, where he trained as an internist and focused on acute and palliative medicine. He then moved into private practice and worked in various GP practices in Germany. He completed his osteopathy training in 2017. He has lived and worked at Lake Wolfgangsee since 2019. He has an elective surgery for osteopathy at the therapy center of the Benedictine monastery Gut Aich. In addition to his medical and osteopathic work, he runs courses (contemplation, music therapy, monastic healing) at Gut Aich Monastery.
Office und Management
The organizational part of the association (administration and management) is supervised by our secretary Monika Hochholzer and for her maternity leave (in 2025), Dorothea Ziegler.