Jelena Begović
Jelena Begović (; born 1970) is an academic and politician in Serbia. A molecular biologist, she was elected to the National Assembly of Serbia in 2022 on the electoral list of the Serbian Progressive Party ("Srpska napredna stranka", SNS). Early life and academic career. Begović was born in Belgrade, in what was then the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Her family relocated to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a few years after her birth before returning to Belgrade, where she was raised. After studying for a time in Canada, she graduated from the University  of Belgrade Faculty of Biology (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), earning a bachelor's degree in 1998, a master's degree in 2002, and a Ph.D in 2008. She has published widely in her field. Begović became the chair of the University of Belgrade's Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering in 2014. During the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia, she oversaw the opening of the "Fire Eye" lab, which tested numerous samples on a daily basis. In late 2021, she opened a centre for genome sequencing to continue the work against the disease . Politician. For the 2022 Serbian parliamentary election, the SNS chose to reserve the top twenty positions on its "Together We Can Do Everything" electoral list for non-party cultural figures and academics. Begović was given the third position on the list. This was tantamount to election, and she was indeed elected when the list won a plurality victory with 120 out of 250 mandates. She is slated to take a seat in parliament when the assembly convenes. During the campaign, she was featured prominently in the SNS's billboard campaign in Belgrade.