Director

Dusana Dorjee, Ph.D. has been practicing Tibetan Buddhist meditation since 2000, primarily under the guidance of Khenchen Lama Rinpoche. Since 2005 she has been leading group meditation sessions and teaching Tibetan Buddhism. She serves as a board member of Dharmakirti as well as AWAM Foundation launched to support Khenchen Rinpoche's orphanage and shelter for older people in Tibet. She is a teacher of tibetan yoga at the Tibetan Yoga Center.

Dusana holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Arizona, and is currently a research officer in cognitive neuroscience at Bangor University in Wales, UK. She also gained a graduate degree in clinical psychology and completed Ph.D. studies in philosophy of mind and science. Throughout her studies she has been interested in fundamental questions about the nature of our mind and its relationship to the brain.

Dusana has long-term interest in scientific research on meditation. She attended the first public meeting between scientists and H.H. The Dalai Lama at MIT in Boston, and was a research fellow at the first Mind and Life Summer Research Institute in June 2004. To actively contribute to research on meditation, she has recently started her first neuroscientific research projects examining brain changes in attention and emotions associated with mindfulness meditation. She heads Dharmakirti Research Institute established to contribute to the dialog between science and Buddhism through variety of activities. Dusana has also authored and co-authored several scientific and popular scientific articles on meditation and neuroscience.

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, based on a ‘terma’ (hidden treasure) revelation by His Holiness Do Khyentse Rinpoche, Dusana is an incarnation of Saraswati. Dusana has deep respect for this revelation and approaches it with responsibility and motivation for further practice, but makes no claims about her accomplishments. She believes that we all need to strive in every moment to accomplish our purest potential through sincere practice and service to sentient beings.