Near-Death Experience Background

Experience:

• My own near-death experience at age six in 1950.
  
  
• Hospice Physician at Hospice at the Texas Medical Center, Houston, Texas, 1990-1994.
  
  
• Advisory Board of Hospice at Mercy Medical Center in Durango, Colorado, 1994-present.
  
  
• Author of Love is the Link: A Hospice Doctor Shares Her Experience of Near-Death and Dying, published 1995.
  
  
• National speaker on hospice, end-of-life issues, and near-death experiences, 1988-present. Over 170 talks and workshops given to date.

Certifications and Memberships:

• Family Practice Board Certification. 1982-2007.
  
  
• Hospice and Palliative Care Board Certification, 2001-2008.
  
  
• Fellow in American Academy of Family Physicians since 1983.
  
  
• Member of IANDS (International Association of Near-Death Studies), 1989-present.
  
  
• Board member of IANDS 2001-2003.

Examples of topics of lectures and workshops I have given on NDEs:

• Love is the link: a hospice physician's experience of near-death and dying.
  
  
• NDEs in acute and hospice situations.
  
  
• College level class in improvisational theater on end-of-life experiences, including NDEs.
  
  
• Physicians' role in NDEs
  
  
• NDEs in the hospice setting.
  
  
• NDEs: what a psychologist needs to know
  
  
• NDEs and mysticism: gateways to higher consciousness.
  
  
• A paradigm shift on the horizon: the role of NDEs in the 'New Medicine
  
  
• Relationships and the Near-Death Experiencer
  
  
• The values of NDEs and how they apply to the business world.
  
  
• What's new in NDE research?
  
  
• How NDEs are Changing American Values

Examples of past venues for talks and workshops on NDEs:

• Colleges and high schools
  
  
• Churches
  
  
• Community groups
  
  
• Hospitals
  
  
• Medical schools
  
  
• Hospice organizations and conferences
  
  
• Death and dying conferences
  
  
• Consciousness conferences (IANDS, IONS, ISSEEM)
  
  
• Radio interviews
  
  
• Television talk shows
  
  
• Power Places Tour

Samples of NDE talks:

• May 8, 1996 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the American Holistic Medical Association's annual conference. A ninety-minute workshop on "NDEs in Acute and Hospice Situations."
  
  
• August 9, 1996 in Sausalito, California. Interview with Michael Toms on "New Dimensions" for radio and tapes.
  
  
• January 28, 1997 at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. Taught a class in improvisational theater on end-of-life experiences, including NDEs.
  
  
• March 5, 1997 at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. Taught a class on "The Psychology of Compassion." "Love is the Link" was one of the textbooks for the course.
  
  
• September 9 and 10, 1997 in Durham, North Carolina at the Hospice for the Carolinas annual conference. A workshop on "NDEs in Hospice Care" and the closing talk on "Integrating What We've Learned: What Hospice Patients Have to Teach Us about Living."
  
  
• October 31, 1997 in San Antonio, Texas. Keynote talk on "Physicians' Role in NDEs" at the annual conference for the International Association of Near-Death Experiences.
  
  
• November 4, 1997 at Southwest Memorial Hospital in Houston, Texas. Noon conference to medical staff and family practice residents on "NDEs and Hospice Care."
  
  
• May 15, 1998 in Houston, Texas. Special address on "NDEs: What a Psychologist Needs to Know" at "Psychology and Spirituality" conference organized by the Houston Psychological Association.
  
  
• June 21, 1998 in Boulder, Colorado. "NDEs in the Acute and Hospice Settings" at the annual ISSSEEM conference
  
  
• July 15, 2000 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A keynote address on "A Paradigm Shift on the Horizon: The Role of NDEs in the 'New Medicine" at the annual IANDS conference.
  
  
• May 17, 2002 in New York City, New York. "Near-Death Experiences: On the Journey Toward Understanding" at the 3rd International Congress of Projectiology and Conscientiology.
  
  
• January 9, 2003 in Honolulu, Hawaii. "Integrating Divergent Paradigms" and "Practice Impact" at the "Healing and the NDE" conference sponsored by IANDS, the International Association of Near-Death Studies.
  
  
• March 7, 2003 at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. "Children's Near-Death Experiences: Implications for Parents, Schools, and Health Care Professionals" and "Nearing-Death Experiences: The Needs of the Dying" as part of the daylong conference, "Counseling Approaches to Child and Adult Near-Death Experiences."
  
  
• September 21, 2003 in Cortez, Colorado. "NDEs: Where Do We Go From Here?" at Institute of Noetic Science (IONS) meeting.
  
  
• October 20, 2004, Crete, Greece. “NDEs and Hospice: Transforming Western Culture?” presentation as part of Power Places tour to Crete.
  
  
• September 10, 2005 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Keynote presentation on “How Near Death Experiences and Hospice are Changing American Values: A Personal Perspective” at IANDS conference.
  
  
• September 29, 2005 in Durango, Colorado. “An Insider’s Look at Near Death Experiences” at Life Long Learning at Fort Lewis College.
  
  
• October 25-28, 2006 in Houston, Texas. “A Thirty Year Perspective: Medicine’s Changing Views Toward NDEs” keynote presentation at the “Near-Death Experiences: 30 Years of Research” conference co-sponsored by MD Anderson Cancer Center and IANDS. Perspective.
  
  
• December 13, 2006 in Durango, Colorado. “The Practicalities of Near-Death Experiences: What Health Care Professionals Need to Know” as a Grand Rounds presentation at Mercy Regional Medical.