He is the Chester Carlson Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine (USA) and served as the Director of the Division of Perceptual Studies from 2002 to 2014. He was elected a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, the highest honor bestowed by that organization. He is also the author of “After: A doctor explores what near-death experiences reveal about life and beyond” (2021). He has studied near-death experiences for more than 45 years.
He graduated from Cornell University (USA) with a major in Psychology, earned his Medical degree from the State University of New York Upstate Medical College (USA), and completed his Psychiatric training at the University of Virginia (USA).
He was previously part of the medical faculty at the University of Michigan (USA) and the University of Connecticut (USA), where he served as Clinical Chief of Psychiatry. Additionally, he co-founded and served as President and Director of Research for the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS), and he was the Editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies for 27 years.