FOUNDER

MARSELA PECANAC is an activist, organizer and fundraiser. She grew up in Yugoslavia, and lived through the siege of Sarajevo in the early 90’s. Marsela’s career has interwoven seemingly disparate worlds: first human rights and media, then commercial and values-based banking, and now social impact. Marsela currently works on media freedom issues and progressive philanthropy. Her current nonprofit board activities include Rainforest Action Network (executive board) and Threshold Foundation (elected president) in the US. Marsela works with Patagonia on the Balkan’s Blue Heart of Europe campaign to save Europe’s last free flowing rivers, and she founded Atelier for Community Transformation “ACT”.

Zina Besirevic, PhD

ZINA has a PhD in Cognition and Development from the UC Berkeley, specializing in the study of moral reasoning and impact of trauma on moral and emotional development. Zina is a recipient of the U.S. Institute of Peace Fellowship, the Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar Award, the Jean Piaget International Society Prize, the UC Chancellor’s Public Scholar Award. Her research spans many countries, including the U.S., the UK, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Central Asia, Turkey, and the Balkans. Currently, Zina is the Director of Research for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, where she is the creative architect of Education of Equity initiative for SEL and traumainformed education. The full scope and range of her expertise is relentlessly in the service of human dignity, and the work of empowering and healing. Zina is formerly a skydiver, and still, a marathon runner.

Emina Cengic, MD

EMINA, despite the absolute love of medicine and especially psychiatry, has been wandering between medicine and business began in the transition period after her surviving war in Bosnia and the need to stay, but also through exploration of wider horizons of action. She was finishing her specialization in clinical immunology in medicine, but then she opted for further development in the business world where after several local functions, she moved to Belgrade where she became a country director for a large pharmaceutical company (French Aventis). In 2009, she returned to Sarajevo and worked in several regional management positions working all across the Balkans. She obtained an MBA degree from Texas A&M University- Commerce. In recent years, she has held the position of managing director in several companies. Emina is passionate about the topic of mental and spiritual healing of the Balkan region, which, according to her own belief, will only happen when people overcome their own and their ancestral traumas.

TEAM

Benjamin Kelmendi, MD

BENJAMIN has had a lifelong interest in neuroscience as it applies to alleviating suffering from mental illnesses and trauma. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine. Ben co-founded the Yale Program for Psychedelic Sciences. He leads a research program focused on psychedelic medicines’ therapeutic potential across a range of psychiatric diagnoses. Ben is the principal investigator of the first controlled study investigating the effect of psilocybin on the circuitry implicated in the treatment of patients with OCD and looking at the effect of MDMA on brain activation and network organization in PTSD, exploring the relationship between MDMA-induced neural changes and the acute cognitive and behavioral effects of the drug. He is also a Co-Principal Investigator on a major multi-site study of psilocybin in the treatment of depression. He is an alumna of MAPS MDMA Therapy Training.

FILIP VELIMIROVIĆ is a speaker, activist, and partnerships manager at Healing Balkans and QueerTech, a Montrealbased non-for-profit queering the Canadian tech industry. They were born in Belgrade in 1993, and studied political science at Sciences Po Paris in France. As an activist, they addressed the United Nations about the devastating consequences of the War on Drugs, particularly on young people. Becoming quickly disenchanted by institutional politics, Filip found a more direct vision of changing the world with the world’s leading psychedelic science organisation «MAPS» with mass mental health & healing being at the core of political, social, financial, and environmental challenges of our time. Filip is a nature lover, runner, yogi, and a fierce advocate for mass mental health.

IMAN DELLA LUNA GLUŠAC, residing in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, is an accomplished artist and activist. Her work spans a variety of topics, including environmental issues and human rights, reflecting a deep commitment to their community. As the creative director of their own arts and old craft company, Iman has participated in numerous exhibitions and proudly represents Bosnia in contemporary design, showcasing her talent and passion on an international stage. She is a yogi, energy healing lover and an advocate for art and body therapy, showing dedication to holistic wellness. She is also actively involved in community outreach programs, volunteering their time and expertise to uplift and empower marginalized groups within Sarajevo and beyond.

As a long-time activist, LEJLA KUSTURICA believes in solidarity, human potential, active local communities, joint initiatives, and the good in people. Lejla tirelessly works for a good cause, has strong principles, and constantly strives to do more. In the past, Lejla worked as a youth manager, as well as a manager for the empowerment of economic and women’s rights in Srebrenica, the site of the worst European genocide since World War II. Lejla initiated the “My Hair, Your Hair” initiative to raise awareness and support the well-being of children suffering from cancer. She also co-founded an artistic foundation that sets up exhibitions and art in the physical public and residential domain tarnished by war and postwar neglect.