Allan Kellehear is Clinical Professor appointed to the College of Nursing & Health Sciences and the Robert Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, USA. His work focusses on the interdisciplinary study of dying conduct and experiences and the development and advocacy of health promotion models for its care. He has written on the sociology, social psychology, and social history of how people meet death and experiencing dying in all human contexts, from illness and aging to battlefields, disasters, and accidents. Inside and alongside this work, Allan has made substantial contributions to the sociological and anthropological study of near-death experiences, deathbed visions, and visions of the bereaved. This latter work examines cultural influence, variability, meaning, and ritual conduct within the symbols and interactional patterns inside these novel experiences. Finally, he is founder and one of the leading academic advocates of the health promotion movement in international hospice and palliative care, more popularly known as the ‘compassionate community’ movement.