President Emerita of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, Nancy Evans Bush has been studying near-death experiences since 1982. She did the first study of experiences in children, was co-investigator and author of the breakthrough 1992 study of distressing NDEs, published in Psychiatry; and has presented subsequent work in journal articles and conferences. She wrote the chapter about these experiences for The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation (2009, Praeger) and has presented on them widely. A near-death experiencer herself, she is committed to discovering as much as can be known about these events, especially those that are distressing, and finding ways to help experiencers come to terms with them. A former teacher of junior high school English, medical school research associate, and business writer, she holds a BA in English from the University at Albany – SUNY and a master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry from St. Joseph College in Connecticut.