Scarlett L. Heinbuch, PhD, MPH

I will host Dr. Bruce Greyson, who will answer your questions! Please join us — only 20 people can register for this interactive chance to ask Dr. Bruce Greyson anything you’d like to know!

Monday, June 9, 2025 | 7:30-9:00 PM ET (U.S.) | Zoom

Hosted by Scarlett Heinbuch, PhD

Register for the Event

Bruce Greyson, MD, is a world-leading authority on near-death experiences (NDEs). An academic psychiatrist now retired from the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS), he has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and is the creator of what is still the most widely used scale for identifying and measuring the depth of NDEs—often colloquially referred to as the “Greyson scale.” He co-founded the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) in 1981 and spent over 25 years as IANDS’ director of research and the editor of its Journal of Near-Death Studies.

In 2021, Bruce capped off his career by publishing After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond, a book that investigates the deepest implications of NDEs and interweaves theoretical reflection with detailed descriptions of individual near-death experiences, statistical information from Bruce’s quantitative research, and anecdotes about the development of NDE studies through the decades.

For instance, Bruce recounts how, when he was fresh out of medical school in the mid-1970s, he was astonished to encounter an emergency-room patient who told him some information about himself she couldn’t have known—unless her mind was somehow able to travel out of her unconscious body. Back then, nobody was talking about NDEs. Bruce only discovered that this patient’s experience was part of a larger phenomenon a few years later, when he was directing the psychiatric emergency service at UVA and one of the interns he was supervising happened to be a fellow named Raymond Moody … who had just written a bestselling book coining the term “near-death experience.” Together, they went on to found IANDS, and Bruce’s subsequent research helped to make near-death experiences not just a phenomenon well-known to the general public but a subject on which there is now an extensive scientific and academic literature.

Bruce is today Chester Carlson Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at UVA and has been elected a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. We’re thrilled to be able to welcome him to Meeting of the Minds and get the chance to benefit from his decades of research into the many aspects of near-death experience.

If you’re new to Bruce’s research, a great way to get a quick introduction is this recent interview he did with Big Think:

If you have time to go deeper, check out Bruce’s presentation at the 2019 IANDS conference.

Our conversation with Bruce will be hosted by NDEr Scarlett Heinbuch, PhD. Join us Monday, June 9, to ask Bruce all your questions about near-death experiences!