Steven Laureys MD, PhD

He is a Professor at the CERVO Brain Research Centre at Laval University (Canada) and an Invited Professor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, in Boston (USA). Additionally, he is a Neurologist and a Clinical Professor at the Centre du Cerveau of CHU of Liège (Belgium). He serves as a Research Director at the National Fund for Scientific Research, founder of the Coma Science Group, and the Director of GIGA Consciousness Research Unit at the University of Liège. He has published several books, including “The neurology of consciousness” (2016) and "The no-nonsense meditation book: A scientist’s guide to the power of meditation" (2021). He explores the human mind using the latest brain imaging technologies, studying near-death experiences, coma, concussion, anaesthesia, hypnosis, and meditation. With his team, he has also studied the brains of astronauts, top-athletes, Buddhist monks (including Matthieu Ricard and Lama Zeupa), and entrepreneurs.

He graduated as a Medical Doctor from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) in 1993. While specializing in Neurology, he began his research career and obtained his MSc in Pharmaceutical Medicine from the same University in 1997. After a stint at the University of Cambridge in 1996, he moved to the University of Liège where he was board certified in Neurology in 1998 and obtained his PhD in Biomedical Sciences in 2000.

His work has been extensively featured in media outlets such as TIME magazine, The New York Times, FORBES, the Guardian, BBC, CNN and National Geographic.