Dr Peter B Fenwick DPM BA FRCPsych
Peter Brooke Cadogan Fenwick (25 May 1935 – 22 November 2024) was a British Neuropsychiatrist and Neurophysiologist known for his studies of epilepsy and end-of-life phenomena. He is considered a world authority in the area of Neuroscience.
Fenwick was born in Nairobi in 1935, where his family was living at the time. His English father was working on a coffee farm, and his Australian mother was a doctor. He attended the Stowe School and was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied Natural Science. He obtained his clinical experience at St Thomas' Hospital
Fenwick was a senior lecturer at King's College, London, where he worked as a consultant at the Institute of Psychiatry. He was the Consultant Neuropsychologist at the Maudsley and John Radcliffe hospitals, and also provided services for Broadmoor Hospital. He worked with the Mental Health Group at the University of Southampton, and held a visiting professorship at the Riken Neurosciences Institute in Japan.
Fenwick was the president of the Horizon Research Foundation, an organisation that supports research into end-of-life experiences. He was the President of the British branch of the International Association for Near-Death Studies. As of 2008 Fenwick was a part of the Human Consciousness Project. The first study from the project was called The AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation) study and was published in 2014.
Fenwick was part of the editorial board for a number of journals, including the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, the Journal of Consciousness Studies and the Journal of Epilepsy and Behaviour.
Peter Fenwick has a long and distinguished involvement in the areas of Neurophysiology, Neuropsychiatry and Sleep disorders.
He graduated from Cambridge University and subsequently trained in General Medicine, Neurophysiology and Psychiatry rapidly becoming an authority in the areas of Neuropsychiatry, Epilepsy and Sleep.
Dr. Fenwick became the head of the Neurophysiology, Sleep and Epilepsy Unit at the Institute of Psychiatry & Maudsley Hospital, which he ran for twenty years. In that time he was also chairman of the Scientific and Medical Network, a group of doctors and scientists seeking to deepen understanding in science and medicine.
He has had a longstanding interest in brain function, the relationship of the mind and the brain, and the “problem” of consciousness. He has an extensive research record and has published over 240 papers in medical and scientific journals on brain function and also several books.
Peter Fenwick is considered a world authority in the area of Neuroscience. Peter is a member of The British Society for Clinical Neurophysiology, The EEG Society, The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1979. The Research Panel on Death and Dying (Chairman,1980), The American Epilepsy Association 1980, The Association of British Clinical Neurophysiologists, The Medical and Scientific Network (Chairman,1987),The British Neuropsychiatry Association, The European Association for the Study of Dreams (Chairman, 1988), E.C.N.E. Board Representative. The International Society for Neuroimaging in Psychiatry, The British Sleep Society, The Court of Electors, Royal College of Psychiatrists (1991 – 1996), Secretary of States Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency Alcohol and Psychiatric sub-committees.
Peter Brooke Cadogan Fenwick (25 May 1935 – 22 November 2024) was a British Neuropsychiatrist and Neurophysiologist known for his studies of epilepsy and end-of-life phenomena. He is considered a world authority in the area of Neuroscience.
Fenwick was born in Nairobi in 1935, where his family was living at the time. His English father was working on a coffee farm, and his Australian mother was a doctor. He attended the Stowe School and was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied Natural Science. He obtained his clinical experience at St Thomas' Hospital
Fenwick was a senior lecturer at King's College, London, where he worked as a consultant at the Institute of Psychiatry. He was the Consultant Neuropsychologist at the Maudsley and John Radcliffe hospitals, and also provided services for Broadmoor Hospital. He worked with the Mental Health Group at the University of Southampton, and held a visiting professorship at the Riken Neurosciences Institute in Japan.
Fenwick was the president of the Horizon Research Foundation, an organisation that supports research into end-of-life experiences. He was the President of the British branch of the International Association for Near-Death Studies. As of 2008 Fenwick was a part of the Human Consciousness Project. The first study from the project was called The AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation) study and was published in 2014.
Fenwick was part of the editorial board for a number of journals, including the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, the Journal of Consciousness Studies and the Journal of Epilepsy and Behaviour.
Peter Fenwick has a long and distinguished involvement in the areas of Neurophysiology, Neuropsychiatry and Sleep disorders.
He graduated from Cambridge University and subsequently trained in General Medicine, Neurophysiology and Psychiatry rapidly becoming an authority in the areas of Neuropsychiatry, Epilepsy and Sleep.
Dr. Fenwick became the head of the Neurophysiology, Sleep and Epilepsy Unit at the Institute of Psychiatry & Maudsley Hospital, which he ran for twenty years. In that time he was also chairman of the Scientific and Medical Network, a group of doctors and scientists seeking to deepen understanding in science and medicine.
He has had a longstanding interest in brain function, the relationship of the mind and the brain, and the “problem” of consciousness. He has an extensive research record and has published over 240 papers in medical and scientific journals on brain function and also several books.
Peter Fenwick is considered a world authority in the area of Neuroscience. Peter is a member of The British Society for Clinical Neurophysiology, The EEG Society, The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1979. The Research Panel on Death and Dying (Chairman,1980), The American Epilepsy Association 1980, The Association of British Clinical Neurophysiologists, The Medical and Scientific Network (Chairman,1987),The British Neuropsychiatry Association, The European Association for the Study of Dreams (Chairman, 1988), E.C.N.E. Board Representative. The International Society for Neuroimaging in Psychiatry, The British Sleep Society, The Court of Electors, Royal College of Psychiatrists (1991 – 1996), Secretary of States Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency Alcohol and Psychiatric sub-committees.
THE BIGELOW PAPER
https://www.bigelowinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/fenwick-consciousness-survives.pdf
https://www.bigelowinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/fenwick-consciousness-survives.pdf
Is there a paper or publication that covers in detail his research results?
Yes, Dr. Peter Fenwick’s research results are covered in detail across several highly specific peer-reviewed papers, medical journal publications, and formal academic reports.
1. Major Peer-Reviewed Research Papers
Yes, Dr. Peter Fenwick’s research results are covered in detail across several highly specific peer-reviewed papers, medical journal publications, and formal academic reports.
1. Major Peer-Reviewed Research Papers
- The AWARE Study (2014): Fenwick was a co-investigator on the groundbreaking paper “AWARE—AWAreness during REsuscitation—A prospective study” published in the medical journal Resuscitation. Led alongside Dr. Sam Parnia, this multi-center international study systematically analyzed 2,060 cardiac arrest events. It provides detailed empirical data regarding the incidence of awareness, visual and auditory memory, and validated out-of-body claims during clinical death.
- Prospective Case Validation (2006): He co-authored “A Prospectively Studied Near-Death Experience with Corroborated Out-of-Body Perceptions and Unexplained Healing” in the Journal of Near-Death Studies. This paper details a specific hospital case where an unconscious patient reported verified, highly precise visual details of their environment during an NDE.
- Neurobiochemical Critiques (1997): He published “Is the Near-Death Experience Only N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Blocking?” in the Journal of Near-Death Studies, where he scientifically challenged the theory that NDEs are merely chemical hallucinations caused by brain-receptor blockages.
National Institutes of Health (.gov) +6
- The Royal College of Psychiatrists Archives: Fenwick published detailed summaries of his data collection via the Royal College of Psychiatrists. His papers “Dying: a spiritual experience as shown by Near Death...” and “Wider human consciousness as shown by death and dying” break down the results of his massive 500-subject questionnaire. This data famously disproved that NDEs are drug-induced, psychotic, or the result of a single brain pathology.
www.rcpsych.ac.uk
- The Bigelow Institute Essay (2021): Fenwick authored a highly thorough, formal master-summary titled “Consciousness Survives” for the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies. This extensive paper synthesizes his entire lifetime of clinical evidence and uses frontier quantum theory to propose how consciousness can function independently of a flatlined brain.
- Spontaneous Case Analysis (2024): Published in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, the study “Glimpses of Death: Analysis of Letters Submitted...” details a full content analysis of the 2,000+ spontaneous letters and accounts sent directly to Dr. Fenwick following his early BBC documentaries.