A life devoted to healing
Majd Kamalmaz, psychotherapist and humanitarian, son, brother, husband, father and grandfather.
His life
Majd was born in Damascus and moved to the United States as a child, where he spent most of his life. He studied at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
In Little Rock he counseled young people through a local organization, Stepping Stone. His family says this is where he found his calling to heal others.
His work
Majd chose to work with people who had lived through severe trauma, and he traveled across the United States and abroad to reach them.
- Louisiana with survivors of Hurricane Katrina
- Indonesia after the tsunami
- Bosnia and Kosovo with women who survived wartime violence and children orphaned by war, helping them heal from trauma without medication
- Lebanon with Syrian refugees
Lebanon
In 2013 Majd visited Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon. He went on to found the International Institute for Psychosocial Development, which opened two centers there offering therapy to men, women and children of all ages and backgrounds.
In December 2016 the HeartMath Institute presented the institute with its Humanitarian Heart Certificate of Appreciation, for heartfelt service and dedication to refugees.
He had also considered opening a center in Syria, offering the same care to anyone who needed it.
Children at the institute’s centers in Lebanon.
His detention
Majd was detained by the Assad government in 2017 and died in its custody. This is the record as it is known.
- February 2017
Majd traveled to Syria to visit family. Less than a day after arriving, he was detained at a checkpoint in Damascus by the government of Bashar al-Assad. His family did not hear from him again.
- January 2019
His family went public, appealing to the United States government for help to bring him home. They campaigned for his release for the years that followed.
- May 2024
United States officials told the family that Majd had died in detention. The Assad government never acknowledged holding him.
- June 2024
In a statement on 11 June 2024, Secretary of State Antony Blinken honored Majd as an American who died while held in Syria, and said: “The Syrian government must answer for what happened to Majd.”
- July 2024
His family filed suit against the Syrian state in federal court in Washington, DC.
- December 2024
The Assad government fell. As Syria’s prisons were opened, the family hoped Majd might be among those freed.
- June 2025
His daughter Maryam met Syria’s new president to press for answers about her father and other missing Americans. His remains had not been found.
- April 2026
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia held the former Assad government responsible for his abduction, detention, torture and death in custody.
Sources
His family has established the foundation to carry his work forward.