Quantifying the Incredible
One night, about 15 years ago, UVA alum Greyson Williams (Col ’95) was up late with his newborn daughter, contemplating how he could feel so profoundly connected to and strongly familiar with this seemingly brand-new human, when he thought to Google the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia School of Medicine for potential insight. This division, known as DOPS, is a research unit in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences founded more than 50 years ago by the late Ian Stevenson, MD. The primary focus of DOPS is investigating the mind’s relationship to the body and the possibility of consciousness surviving physical death. Williams had first become curious about DOPS as an undergraduate; his middle-of-the-night search reignited that interest. “I had Jim’s latest book at the house two days later,” said Williams.
Jim is Jim B. Tucker, MD, a child psychiatrist, director of DOPS, and the Bonner-Lowry Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences. Dr. Tucker has written several books about researching children’s memories of past lives. His critical, scientific approach is frequently featured in academic and mainstream media. Among DOPS’s other well-known scientists is Bruce Greyson, MD, the Chester F. Carlson Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, who was recently interviewed about his study of near-death experiences on the podcast “Inside UVA with President Ryan.” Another is Kim Penberthy, PhD, the Chester F. Carlson Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, who investigates altered states of consciousness (during meditation, for example) and was named 2023 Psychologist of the Year by the Virginia Academy of Clinical Psychologists.
DOPS’s researchers rigorously evaluate empirical evidence to investigate subjective experiences that challenge and may redefine conventional notions of the mind-body connection. In some cases, they use advanced neuroimaging technologies, including a state-of-the-art electroencephalogram (EEG) machine, to measure electrical activity in the brain in connection with these phenomena. It is precisely DOPS’s use of sophisticated statistical tools and data analytics that first prompted Williams to get involved. As one of the founders of Quantitative Investment Management, LLC, a Virginia-based global investment management firm, Greyson understands the power of data science. “That stood out as a place to help,” he said.
Williams soon arranged to meet with Drs. Tucker and Greyson. “I found them to be brilliant, down-to-earth scientists,” he said. “They’ve had careers of people rolling their eyes at them, but they’re just earnestly saying, ‘This is what’s in front of us. We just keep following the facts, and this is where we are.’ I came away even more excited about the work they are doing.”
It wasn’t long before Williams joined the DOPS advisory board, a group of supporters volunteering their time and nonacademic expertise to assist the division in pursuing its vision for the next 50 years. “I’m just one of a group of people that, for years, has been helping sort out questions around succession and better defining what the future of DOPS looks like,” he said.
Williams and his spouse, Ariana, recently made a significant financial gift to support that future. The couple’s donation enabled DOPS to hire a new researcher and an administrative and business development executive to strengthen the organization’s foundation and ensure its longevity.
Private support from donors like the Williamses is especially important to DOPS. The unique nature of the organization’s research makes funding from traditional corporate and industry sources difficult to obtain.
ASKING THE HARD QUESTIONS
Explaining the relationship between physical processes (activity in the brain) and subjective experiences (consciousness) is what Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers famously called the “hard problem.” DOPS’s researchers are bringing scientific integrity to bear on this puzzle, questioning experiences of the mind that seem to defy brain activity and even death. For example, on its website, DOPS defines near-death experiences (NDEs) as “intensely vivid and often life-transforming experiences, many of which occur under extreme physiological conditions such as trauma, ceasing of brain activity, deep general anesthesia or cardiac arrest in which no awareness or sensory experiences should be possible according to the prevailing views in neuroscience.” NDEs may involve an out-of-body sensation, enhanced cognition, encountering deceased loved ones, or witnessing unseen events that are later corroborated. According to research, 1 in 10 hospitalized patients who experience cardiac arrest will report an NDE, and an estimated 5% of people worldwide have experienced one.
During his podcast with President Ryan, Dr. Greyson responded to skeptics who find experiences like these difficult to accept, saying, “Well, it is difficult. It’s difficult for me to understand these things as well. I’m basically a materialistic scientist…these things that violate my belief system, I can see how they violate other people’s as well.”
However, beliefs may be shifting thanks partly to empirical evidence showing that scientific assumptions about the physicality of the mind and consciousness are flawed or incomplete.
“There’s a lot of research showing what’s really going on in the brain and that some of these experiences are true,” said Williams. “And it seems like there's also a cultural moment—that the world seems to be moving to more acceptance and interest in the field.”
Evidence for that growing acceptance and interest may be gleaned from the popularity of Netflix’s 2021 documentary Surviving Death, which features DOPS research, or from the 3.7 million views that DOPS’s presentation “Is There Life After Death? Fifty Years of Research at UVA” has received on YouTube. The latter was recorded on February 22, 2017, during the Medical Center Hour, a weekly forum on medicine and society that UVA School of Medicine hosts for faculty, students, physicians, nurses, and community members. The forum that day had drawn a rare standing-room-only crowd.
“I've come to really appreciate that DOPS is taking a secular, scientific look at ‘Is there consciousness outside of our physical experience?’” said Williams’s wife, Ariana. “That really captivates me, and I think it captivates other people. What is the full picture of life, and who are we as humans? It gets at some really deep questions that I think a lot of people ponder.”
Current and future researchers at DOPS are well-positioned to pursue scientific answers to those profound queries thanks in part to the Williamses’ gift.
FINDING HOPE IN THE BIG PICTURE
As philanthropists, the Williamses acknowledge there is tension between addressing immediate needs and supporting scientific research. The couple is also active in the former and gives back to the community in many ways. For example, Ariana recently joined the UVA Health Foundation Board and is participating in its Community Outreach working group, which is focused on increasing philanthropy for healthcare access and health equity in Charlottesville. The working group’s efforts and goals are local, clear, and urgent. By contrast, the ultimate return on the couple’s support of scientific inquiry is potentially world-changing but uncertain and likely distant. Ariana said she feels lucky to be able to contribute to both areas, and Williams is optimistic.
“It really feels like we're on the verge of pretty substantial steps forward in human understanding and awareness,” said Williams. “The simple hope is that if more people learn about DOPS’s research, there's increased awareness that we're probably something more than just what's in front of us here. Then maybe people will be a little better to each other and a little more thoughtful of the big picture.”
You can support the Division of Perceptual Studies online, by contacting Kelly Reinhardt, Director of Development, Neurosciences, at ksr2h@uvahealth.org or 434.924.8432, or by calling us at 800.297.0102.
