The IANDS Advisory Board includes prominent researchers and figures in the field of near-death studies, who have agreed to offer guidance on our policies, procedures, and direction.
Eben Alexander III, MD
Eben Alexander III, MD, is a near-death experiencer and researcher, author of Living in a Mindful Universe: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Heart of Consciousness. A former neurosurgeon who experienced a profound near-death experience (NDE) during a coma caused by bacterial meningitis, Dr. Alexander transformed his understanding of consciousness and the afterlife. His scientific background and his personal NDE uniquely position him to bridge the gap between medical science and the study of consciousness. He is the author of three books and is a public speaker. (www.ebenalexander.com)
P. M.H. Atwater, LHD
P. M. H. Atwater is a pioneering investigator of NDEs. In her numerous books about them, she often was the first to identify certain features of the experience or its aftereffects – features that were confirmed by further research. She is a near-death experiencer and researcher. Her memoir is Edge Walker: The Many Lives and Deaths of PMH Atwater. (www.pmhatwater.com)
Rebecca ‘Becky’ Austill-Clausen, MS, OTR/L FAOTA
Becky Austill-Clausen is president of Complementary Health Works, Inc., a shared death and spiritually transformative experiencer and author of Change Maker: How My Brother’s Death Woke Up My Life. Becky is an occupational therapist and a Reiki Master who had a shared death experience and a spiritually transformative experience in 1995 when her brother, David, passed. After 20 years of exploration, she found the courage to describe these life-changing events in her award-winning book Change Maker. Becky serves currently as the IANDS Conference Healing Coordinator and member of the IANDS Ethical Advocacy and Resolution Team. (www.rebeccaaustillclausen.com)
Suzanne Giesemann, MPA, CDR (USN, Ret.)
Suzanne Giesemann is an evidential medium and author of The Awakened Way: Making the Shift to a Divinely Guided Life. A former U.S. Navy Commander and aide to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, today Suzanne is a medium whose work provides stunning evidence that love never dies. Included on the Watkins’ 2022 list of the “100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People” and recipient of the 2024 Spiritual Leadership Humanity’s Team Award, Suzanne is a spiritual teacher and international speaker. (www.suzannegiesemann.com)
Bruce Greyson, MD
Bruce Greyson, MD, is Carlson Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences, in the Division of Perceptual Studies a the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a foremost researcher in the field of near-death studies and author of After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond. Dr. Greyson He is an IANDS co-founder, Past President, Past Director of Research, and Past Editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies. He also co-founded Connecticut-IANDS, the local NDE support and interest group based in Farmington, Connecticut. (www.brucegreyson.com)
Jean-Pierre Jourdan, MD
Jean-Pierre Jourdan, MD, is a researcher and president and director of medical research at the French Branch of the International Association for Near-Death Studies.
Pim van Lommel, MD
Based in Arnhem, The Netherlands, Pim van Lommel, MD, is a cardiologist who conducted a large-scale prospective hospital study of NDEs that was published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet. With his article “The Continuity of Consciousness,” he won second prize in the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. In 1988 he co-founded IANDS The Netherlands. He is an Honorary Member of the Scientific & Medical Network (SMN) and an international speaker. He is also a researcher and author of Consciousness Beyond Life
Jeffrey Long, MD
Jeffrey Long, MD, is the founder of the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF), the largest repository of NDEs in the world, which includes entries from around the world. He is also an author and speaker on all aspects of NDEs. He is a researcher and author of Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences and God and the Afterlife: The Groundbreaking New Evidence for God and Near-Death Experience.
Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD
Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is adjunct faculty at the California Institute for Human Science, host of New Thinking Allowed and president of New Thinking Allowed Foundation. In 1980, Dr. Mishlove received the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university: the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. In 2021 he became the Grand Prize winner of the Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death.
Raymond Moody, Jr., MD, PhD
Raymond Moody, Jr., MD, Ph.D., authored the 1975 book Life After Life, which opened the contemporary field of near-death studies. He has also published groundbreaking books on related phenomena such as shared death experiences and after-death communication, and he continues to write, speak, and teach about such experiences and their meaning for individuals and for humanity. Dr. Moody is a researcher and author of Life After Loss, God is Bigger Than the Bible, and Proof of Life After Life (https://www.lifeafterlife.com/)
Anita Moorjani
Anita Moorjani is a near-death experiencer and author of the New York Times best seller Dying to Be Me (www.anitamoorjani.com). Following Anita’s astounding 2006 NDE, she came to the attention of Dr. Wayne Dyer, who facilitated Anita’s current status as a bestselling author and international public speaker. Today, Anita is an activist for global harmony and love; she travels the world sharing her truth about the interconnectedness of us all.
Melvin L. Morse, MD
Melvin L. Morse, MD, is a retired associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington and a pioneering NDE researcher. As a former pediatrician, he focuses particularly on childhood NDEs and serves currently as president of the Institute for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. He is a researcher and author of the New York Times Best Sellers Closer to the Light and Where God Lives. (http://www.melvinmorsemd.com)
Michael Nahm, PhD
Michael Nahm, Ph.D., is a research associate at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, Freiburg, Germany. Dr. Nahm has researched NDEs, including evidence that those that had reportedly occurred during cardiac arrest actually happened during that time rather than having been constructed during the recovery phase as had been proposed. In 2009 he coined the term “terminal lucidity” to describe the unexpected surge of mental clarity in confused or nonresponsive people shortly before death, which was followed by his own and others’ further research on this intriguing phenomenon. His important recent publications include “The Importance of the Exceptional in Tackling Riddles of Consciousness and Unusual Episodes of Lucidity” and “The Significance of Autoscopies as a Time Marker for the Occurrence of Near-Death Experiences.”
Mary Neal, MD
Mary Neal, MD, is a former assistant professor and director of spine surgery at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. She is a retired spinal surgeon who experienced a profound near-death experience after drowning in a whitewater kayaking accident. This experience and what followed radically altered her understanding of death, of life, and of the coexistent nature of science and faith. She is a worldwide advocate for seeking spiritual truth, knowing that this journey often uncovers the meaning, purpose, and joy that God intends for us. She is the author of two New York Times Best Sellers, To Heaven and Back and 7 Lessons from Heaven (www.DrMaryNeal.com)
Jeff O’Driscoll, MD, FACEP
Jeff O’Driscoll, MD, FACEP, is a retired emergency physician, experiencer and author of Not Yet: Near-Life Experiences & Lessons Learned. Dr. O’Driscoll is the former Chief of Emergency Medicine at Intermountain Medical Center and former Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of Utah. As an emergency physician, he had numerous transpersonal experiences which he documented in his 2017 book Not Yet and on which he based his 2024 novel, Zen’s Garden. In addition to being a physician and award-winning author, he is an intuitive mentor, artist, and healer. (www.jeffodriscoll.com)
Jeffery C. Olsen, BSc
Jeffery Olsen is a near-death experiencer and author of Knowing: Memoirs of a Journey Beyond the Veil and Choosing Joy After Tragic Loss. Jeff is creative director at BYUtv who, since his NDE, has become an international bestselling author—including co-authorship with his son, Spencer, of the book Where Are You?—and inspirational speaker. He has been featured on media outlets such as Fox and Gaia, in the award-winning documentary Remembering Heaven, and on numerous podcasts and radio shows including Coast to Coast, iHeart Radio, and Messages of Hope. For 15 years he has been active in IANDS conferences including as keynote and featured speaker. (www.JefferycOlsen.com)
Marieta Pehlivanova, PhD
Dr. Pehlivanova is a research assistant professor in the Division of Perceptual Studies, Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dr. Pehlivanova holds a PhD in Experimental and Cognitive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in Statistics from American University. Formerly a biostatistician in a medical research non-profit organization, she now focuses her UVa research primarily on near-death experiences and children’s reports of purported past-life memories, including the cognitive, personality, environmental, and genetic factors contributing to their occurrence; veridical perceptions reported by experiencers; their impact on individuals; cross-cultural comparisons; and the development of support resources within healthcare settings for experiencers. Some of Dr. Pehlivanova’s research has been funded by the BIAL Foundation and published in scientific outlets such as Frontiers in Psychology, Journal of Neuroscience, Mortality, and the American Journal of Cardiology.
J. Kim Penberthy, PhD, ABPP
Dr. Penberthy is the Chester F. Carlson Professor of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences, Department of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences, Division of Perceptual Studies, University of Virginia School of Medicine and Health System Contemplative Sciences Center, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dr. Penberthy focuses on the psychological, spiritual, and therapeutic dimensions of profound experiences such as after-death communication, near-death experiences, and other mystical and transformative experiences. As a clinical psychologist and researcher, she has highlighted the therapeutic potential of these experiences to alleviate death anxiety, reduce grief, foster resilience, and enhance personal growth. Currently, she and her research team are investigating verifiable after death communications (ADCs), and she is exploring the role of psychedelics such as psilocybin in creating experiences similar to NDEs, out of body experiences (OBEs) and ADCs. In 2023, she published Description and impact of encounters with deceased partners or spouses in the OMEGA-Journal of Death and Dying.
Titus Rivas, MA, MSc
Titus Rivas is a researcher and lead author of The Self Does Not Die: Verified Paranormal Phenomena From Near-Death Experiences (2nd edition). An adult educator, Titus has conducted research for the Athanasia Working Party, the Society for Psychical Research, and Network NDE and has written about survival and reincarnation research, philosophy of mind, animal ethics, animal psychology, mental healthcare, and social issues.
Michael B. Sabom, MD
Dr. Sabom is a retired cardiologist and former Assistant Professor of Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a researcher and author of Light and Death: One Doctor’s Fascinating Account of Near-Death Experiences. Dr. Sabom is also a co-founder of IANDS and was lead researcher of the first prospective study of NDEs, described in his book Recollections of Death: A Medical Investigation. He is currently working on another book on NDEs, expected to be published in 2025.
Penny Sartori, PhD, FHEA, PGCertHE, RGN
Dr. Sartori is a senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, and Health and Life Sciences at Swansea University in Swansea, Wales. She’s also an NDE researcher.
Kimberly Clark-Sharp, MSW, LCSW Seattle
Kimberly Clark-Sharp is a near-death experiencer and author of After the Light: What I Discovered on the Other Side of Life That Can Change Your World. Kim is the investigator in the famous shoe-on-the-hospital-ledge veridical NDE case. She’s an author and public speaker, and founder and president of Seattle IANDS, the oldest and largest group of its kind in the world.
Gregory Shushan, PhD
Dr. Shushan is adjunct professor of thanatology at Marian University. As the author of four books on early historical and indigenous NDEs, he is the leading expert in this topic area and speaks internationally on the subject. Dr. Shushan holds degrees in religious studies, research methods for humanities, Egyptian archaeology, and Eastern Mediterranean archaeology. He is currently a candidate for a second PhD at Birmingham Newman University in Birmingham, England, UK. He is the author of the upcoming book Near-Death Experience in Ancient Civilizations (www.gregoryshushan.com)
Brian D. Smith, CGE
Brian Smith is a certified grief educator and author of Grief 2 Growth: Planted, Not Buried and host of the Grief 2 Growth Podcast. After the passing of his daughter Shayna, Brian transitioned from a career in business to his life’s calling: guiding others through grief. As a Certified Grief Educator, he supports individuals and groups with compassion and insight, offering education and direct support to help transform pain into personal growth. Brian serves on the Board of Directors for Helping Parents Heal and as Vice President of the SoulPhone Foundation, inspiring hope and fostering connections between this world and the next.
Natasha Tassell-Matamua, PhD
Dr. Tassell-Matamua is associate professor, School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, Aotearoa New Zealand, a researcher and a near-death experiencer. She is an Indigenous Māori scholar who established a Centre for Indigenous Psychologies at Massey University and initiated the field of near-death studies in Aotearoa, New Zealand. She is especially interested in advancing understandings of cultural diversity in NDE and consciousness studies. She has published extensively and presents both nationally and internationally on NDEs. She is also the associate editor of EXPLORE: The Journal of Science and Healing.