Nancy Clark, Ph.D. is a Medical Intuitive, an international lecturer and workshop facilitator on a variety of subjects. She is a certified neurolinguistic programmer and hypnotherapist.
Nancy Clark has had two near-death experiences. In 1991, she spontaneously began to see inside the body. (At that time, she had never heard the term, “medical intuitive.”) Within two months she had begun working with people who initially wanted a session. Within a short period of time, clients were asking to learn how to do what she was doing.
At the same time, Clark was invited to begin work on several projects to reduce stress in post-communist countries. As a result, her work has been presented at the European Professional Psychologists Association and the Adlerian Summer Institute. Other major projects included summer camps for teens and preteens most recently held in Slovakia. Clark discovered that young people in those countries lacked a sense of self-identity. At the camp they develop trust, responsibility and a positive self-image.
Dr. Clark has authored several books, the most recent, The Energy Healer's Guide: An Integrative Medicine Program for Self-Development and Teaching, published in November, 2011, is also available as an e-book on Amazon.
Self-employed Researcher, Author, Speaker
Charlottesville, VA
Dr. Atwater began investigation of NDEs in 1978. With material from over 4,000 adult and child experiencers, she has written seven books. As a result of her writings, she has been invited to speak around the world, serving as one of the foremost global ambassadors of NDEs. During the 2006 IANDS Conference, Dr. Atwater reported her observations from her travels in her presentation, "Who in the World is Interested in NDEs?"
Ms. Bush is retired from a career in education, non-profit administration, and pastoral counseling. She authored the first research-based article on children's NDEs and is a long-time investigator, with Bruce Greyson, MD, of distressing NDEs. She is the author of the new book on distressing NDEs, Dancing Past the Dark: Distressing Near-Death Experiences.
President Emerita of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, Ms. Bush's early professional publications included articles on pediatric nurse practitioner education in several peer-reviewed nursing journals. Her 24-year affiliation with the field of near-death studies includes more than 100 speaking engagements throughout the United States, editorship of the magazine Vital Signs, publications, and consultancy to most of the early radio and television programs about near-death experiences.
Consultant Neuropsychiatrist Emeritus
Maudsley Hospital
Honorary Senior Lecturer
Institute of Psychiatry
London, England
Dr. Fenwick's NDE research has included one of the largest retrospective studies and co-investigation with Sam Parnia, MD, of one of the best known prospective studies. Dr. Fenwick co-presented with Russell Noyes, MD, "Aftereffects of Pleasurable Western Adult NDEs" during the 2006 IANDS Conference.
Dr. Fenwick has carried out a number of research projects, and has both published and presented research papers, on near-death experiences. He also is working currently in hospices with caregivers of the dying. Through his work at a neuroscience unit, he is involved on a daily basis with brain imaging methods, neurophysiological investigation of the brain, and current theories of consciousness. Dr. Fenwick is the 2004 recipient of the International Association for Near-Death Studies' Bruce Greyson Research Award.
It is with sadness that IANDS notes Dr. Fenwick's passing in November, 2024. We appreciate and honor his many contributions to the field of near-death studies.
Carlson Professor of Psychiatry
Director, Division of Perceptual Studies
Department of Psychiatric Medicine
University of Virginia Health System
Dr. Greyson is the foremost active researcher in the field of near-death studies and a long-time former editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies. He presented "Explanatory Models of NDEs" during the 2006 IANDS Conference.
Professor, Counseling Program
Interim Chair, Department of Counseling, Development, & Higher Education
University of North Texas
Dr. Holden is a long-time investigator of veridical perception during NDEs and co-creator with Rozan Christian, PhD, of the consummate NDE research tool Near-Death Experiences: Index to the Periodical Literature through 2005. Dr. Holden co-authored with Sam Parnia, MD, the talk on "Veridical Perception in NDEs" at the 2006 IANDS conference.
Upon earning her doctorate in counselor education from Northern Illinois University in 1988, Dr. Holden joined the counseling program faculty at the University of North Texas in Denton, just north of Dallas/Fort Worth, where she now serves as counseling program administrator. Her primary area of specialization is the transpersonal perspective in counseling, with particular emphasis on near-death experiences. Dr. Holden is serving in her third year as President of the International Association for Near-Death Studies. She leads a monthly IANDS local group in Lewisville, a suburb north of Dallas. Dr. Holden is a Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and National Certified Counselor. She maintains a small private practice in counseling in Lewisville where she works primarily with individual adults and with couples.
In 1975, with his book Life after Life, Dr. Raymond Moody coined the term near-death experience (NDE) and formally launched the field of near-death studies. Thirty years later, Life after Life is probably still the single most recognized book title on the topic of NDEs. Dr. Moody will be the luncheon speaker on the first day of the conference.
Raymond Moody earned a PhD in philosophy in 1969 and an MD in 1976. He was inspired to study near-death experiences in 1965 when he heard George Ritchie, MD, describe his own NDE. Since 1975, Dr. Moody has pursued interests in other transpersonal phenomena such as the psychomanteum, a specific setting that can help people experience apparitions of deceased loved ones. However, he continues to be in demand worldwide to speak about his pioneering work and ongoing interest in NDEs.
Dr. Noyes was an explorer of the new world of near-death studies, having published before 1975 four articles about experiences that, in 1975, came to be known as NDEs. Still involved in the field, Dr. Noyes co-presented with Peter Fenwick, MD, “Pleasurable Western Adult NDEs: Aftereffects” during the 2006 IANDS Conference.
After completing residency training in psychiatry at the Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut, and the University of Iowa, Dr. Noyes spent two years in the United States Navy, then joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa. His research interests early in his career included near-death experiences and, later, panic and other anxiety disorders as well as hypochondriasis. He has published nearly 300 articles and, for many years, served on the Psychiatric Consultation Service at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He achieved the rank of Professor before retiring in 2002.
At the 2006 conference in Houston, IANDS honored Dr. Noyes' early work on "NDEs" by presenting him with the Bruce Greyson Research Award. The fourth recipient of this award, Dr. Noyes joins esteemed recipients Dr. Greyson himself, Dr. Peter Fenwick, and Dr. Pim van Lommel.
Senior Clinical Research Fellow
University of Southampton, U.K.
Fellow in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Weill Cornell Medical Center
New York
Dr. Parnia, in collaboration with Dr. Peter Fenwick, conducted a landmark prospective study of NDEs at Southampton General Hospitals in England that was published in the journal Resuscitation. He co-authored with Jan Holden, EdD, the talk on "Veridical Perception in NDEs" at the 2006 IANDS conference.
A graduate of Guys and St. Thomas' medical schools in London, Dr. Parnia founded the Consciousness Research Group at the University of Southampton in the U.K. He is also a Specialist Registrar in Internal and Respiratory Medicine in the North West Thames Region in London. His prospective study with Dr. Fenwick of near-death experiences received widespread coverage in the national and international press. He has described that study and its implications in his 2006 book, What Happens When We Die: A Groundbreaking Study into the Nature of Life and Death.
Dr. van Lommel, lead investigator for the prospective NDE study published in 2001 in The Lancet, now devotes himself full time to research on the NDE and the mind-brain relationship. During the 2006 IANDS Conference, he presented "On the Continuity of Consciousness."
Dr. van Lommel graduated in 1971 from the University of Utrecht and finished his specialization in cardiology in 1976. He worked from 1977-2003 as a cardiologist in The Netherlands' Hospital Rijnstate, an 800-bed teaching hospital. He has published several articles on cardiology, but since 1986 when he began research on near-death experiences (NDEs) in survivors of cardiac arrest, he has authored over 20 articles, most of them in Dutch; one book; and several chapters about NDEs and the relationship of consciousness with the brain. In these writings, he has described his concept of informational fields of consciousness whereby the function of neuronal networks are regarded as receivers and conveyors, not as producers, of consciousness and memories. Dr. van Lommel is the 2005 recipient of the International Association for Near-Death Studies' Bruce Greyson Research Award.