Dr Aleksandra Filipovic – The Doctor Showing Us How an Elevated Practice Transforms Science and Medicine Into a Healing Masterpiece

Behind the clinical authority of the word oncology lies an unsettling truth: in Greek, oncos means burden. It is a definition that lingers heavily over both patients and practitioners. “I see a lot of patients carrying a lot of burden indeed in my clinics,” says Dr. Aleksandra Filipovic. “For generations, patients have been told to ‘battle’ the disease, to ‘fight’ for survival, as if they were soldiers in a war not of their choosing.”

Filipovic, a Serbian-born oncologist and cancer cell biologist now based in London, once subscribed to that very narrative. “We were trained that way in medical school,” she reflects. “Now, with perspective and a holistic intention and practice, I recognise that words can both harm and heal.” Today, her mission is to redefine the language of medicine—shaping it into something that supports healing rather than compounds suffering.

Her career—spanning a PhD and postdoctoral fellowship at Imperial College London, years in oncology wards treating cancer patients, and leadership roles in biopharma—taught her that medicine, in its truest sense, is about wholeness, not simply survival.

That breakthrough did not come in a laboratory but within herself. “One of my favourite quotes is: ‘When an egg is cracked from the outside, it is broken; when it cracks from the inside, a being is born.’” For Filipovic, the shift had to come from within—a transformation that turned her practice into a purpose-driven, heart-led mission.

After a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis in 2016 and years of personal healing, she reached what she calls an “aha moment” in 2021: “I either start practicing medicine differently right now, or there is a choice to be made.” That choice gave birth to The H.E.A.L. Clinic, an integrative practice rooted in Health, Empowerment, Awareness, and Love.

The Nervous System as Medicine

Central to Filipovic’s work is a radical proposition: the nervous system itself is medicine. Symptoms such as chronic pain, fatigue, trauma, autoimmune disease, or even relationship struggles, are not isolated malfunctions but signals of unfinished loops in the body’s circuitry. Cancer, she argues, carries elements of this as well. Her mission is to help clients close those loops, re-pattern their systems, and reclaim agency over their lives.

To do this, she draws from years of advanced training, certifications in Neurosomatic Intelligence (NSI), Whole Health Medicine Institute (WHMI) methods, and the OvidDx program, a mind-body modality designed for trauma and chronic pain, but most importantly, from years of practice. Her methods are also accredited globally by the International Practitioners of Holistic Medicine (IPHM), underscoring the clinic’s recognised standards in holistic healthcare.

The impact goes beyond the physical. Clients report newfound clarity in relationships, the ability to set healthy boundaries, and the confidence to pursue long-delayed goals. “Significant healing happens across all areas of life, not just the body,” Filipovic emphasizes.

A Global Vision for Integrative Care

Photo Courtesy of: Nick Onken

The objects in this photograph are part of what Dr. Filipovic uses in consultations with clients to facilitate the somatic experience

Filipovic is not content with helping only clients in London. Her vision is expansive: to establish The H.E.A.L. Clinic as a paradigm shifter and thought leader across the UK, Europe, Dubai, Serbia, and the United States. She trains physicians to integrate trauma-informed care into hospital clinics, speaks at international conferences, and will soon launch Into the Body, with Dr. Aleks, a podcast hosted by the world’s largest oncology news outlet, OncoDaily.

In December, she will address two panels at Health 2.0 in Dubai on the future of patient-centered hospital design and innovations in cancer treatment. 

From Clinic to Culture: A Collaboration with Lorenzo Quinn

Photo credit: Inez del Prado – Barcelona / Amsterdam

Perhaps the most unexpected expression of Filipovic’s vision emerged from another chapter of her personal journey—healing through art. Specifically, the art of Lorenzo Quinn. What began as a simple thank-you note to the internationally acclaimed sculptor grew into a collaborative book, The Art of Connection, unveiled on September 25 during the grand opening of the Lorenzo Quinn Studio in Barcelona, that now serves as an offering to all who seek healing through creative expression.

The volume pairs Quinn’s evocative sculptures with Filipovic’s reflections and journaling prompts, guiding readers through a carefully designed arc of self-exploration. “This book is both an invitation and a journey,” she explains. “It is meant to touch the soul, elevate the spirit, and bring people closer to their own truth.”

In a world racing toward precision medicine and high-tech therapies, which can also do a lot of good, this remembrance is perhaps the most radical act of all: to sit with oneself. To ask, “What does healing mean to me?” to allow answers to rise not just from the brain but from the bones, the gut, and the heart.

And to remember that healing doesn’t always mean curing—but it always means reclamation of Self.

For updates about The Art of Connection—and for those interested in obtaining a copy—readers can follow the latest announcements on the official channels of both Lorenzo Quinn and Dr. Aleksandra Filipovic.

Toward a New Medicine

The H.E.A.L. Clinic may still be young, but its ethos is clear. Filipovic insists that medicine must evolve beyond rigid protocols and war metaphors, toward a model that honors the whole person—their biology, their history, their spirit. Bringing the whole person onto the personalized, that is her motto.

“The purpose of medicine is not only to reverse illness,” she reminds us. “It is to support wholeness and wellness. I am here to cocreate and facilitate the paradigm shift from symptom management to root cause healing. 

By merging oncology with nervous system healing, and now with art, Dr. Aleksandra Filipovic offers a vision of medicine as both science and story, reflection and release, discipline and love.

Dr. Filipovic sees clients virtually worldwide and in person at The London Lauriston Clinic. 34 Great Titchfield Street London W1W 8BQ · +44204511 0444. For inquiries, please contact: [email protected] 

For collaborations and speaking engagements, please contact: [email protected]