Ljerka Armano

Dr Ljerka Armano, RN, MSN, MSc, PhD, is a nurse, researcher and lecturer at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. She is currently president of the Institute for Forest Therapy and Mindfulness, created with the support of the academic medical community and the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, with the aim of promoting the scientific implementation of forest therapy in the prevention of chronic diseases.

She also actively collaborates with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Rijeka on projects related to public health and nature-based therapies. She holds a position of responsibility in the Department of Hospital Infections at UHC Sestre milosrdnice, where she integrates her clinical health experience with interdisciplinary research. She holds master's degrees in Nursing and Biology and obtained her doctorate from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Rijeka, with pioneering studies on the use of complementary and alternative medicine—including forest therapy—in cancer patients.

With over 30 years of experience as an instructor with the Croatian Mountaineering Association and certified as a European forest therapy guide, Dr Armano leads and participates in international projects on health, wellbeing and forest medicine. Her career has been characterised by promoting, based on scientific evidence, the integration of nature into human health and wellbeing.