Anthropologist (PhD, Southern Illinois University) and Research Fellow at the Parapsychology Foundation. Winner of the 2021 Parapsychological Association Book Award for the most comprehensive scholarly overview of reincarnation research available.

Physician and philosopher (MD/PhD) who coined the term "near-death experience" in his 1975 bestseller Life After Life. Foundational figure in consciousness survival research whose terminology and framework shaped the entire field.

Yale-trained psychiatrist and former Chairman of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. His clinical work with past-life regression therapy brought reincarnation research to mainstream public awareness.

Dutch cardiologist who conducted the landmark prospective study on near-death experiences published in The Lancet (2001), studying 344 cardiac arrest survivors across 10 hospitals. His research provides some of the strongest medical evidence for consciousness existing independently of brain function.

New Research Director of UVA's Division of Perceptual Studies (2025), bringing 25 years of faculty experience at Case Western Reserve and 230+ publications. Recipient of the William James Award from the APA Division of Psychology of Religion.

Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at UVA School of Medicine. Currently co-leading a major $750,000 BIAL-funded research initiative applying neuroimaging to reincarnation-type cases.

Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Connecticut and co-founder of IANDS. One of the first academics to conduct systematic scientific research on near-death experiences, providing foundational evidence for consciousness survival.

Biologist (PhD, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg) and Research Associate at IGPP since 2018. Runner-up in the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay contest on evidence for consciousness survival after bodily death.

Researcher at the University of Tasmania and Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory with over 50 years investigating reincarnation-type cases. Called "one of the individuals whose scientific integrity helped parapsychology become legitimate in Australia."

Harvard-trained anthropologist (PhD 1982) who spent six years collaborating with Ian Stevenson at UVA. Pioneered cross-cultural reincarnation research among Indigenous North American peoples including Beaver, Gitxsan, and other First Nations communities.

Former Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology at NIMHANS (India) with a PhD from Bangalore University. Investigated over 500 reincarnation-type cases since 1973, making her one of the most prolific empirical researchers in the field.

Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Iceland with over 100 peer-reviewed publications and multiple awards including the Myers Memorial Medal. Investigated reincarnation-type cases in Sri Lanka and Lebanese Druze communities over a 50-year research career.

Stanislav Grof is a psychiatrist who conducted pioneering clinical research with LSD in the 1960s and co-founded the field of transpersonal psychology, developing holotropic breathwork as a non-pharmacological method for accessing non-ordinary states of consciousness. His early psychedelic research predates modern clinical trial standards, but his systematic observations laid groundwork that current institutions are now building upon.

Ian Stevenson was a psychiatrist at the University of Virginia who founded the Division of Perceptual Studies and systematically documented over 3,000 cases of children reporting past-life memories across multiple cultures. His methodology was rigorous within the constraints of the field, producing peer-reviewed publications that remain the foundation of academic reincarnation research.

John Keel was a journalist and author who conducted extensive field investigations into UFO phenomena, developing the ultraterrestrial hypothesis as an alternative to the extraterrestrial explanation. His work is influential within UFO/UAP discourse but relies on journalistic investigation rather than scientific methodology.