Today it has grown into an international organization, which includes a network of more than 50 local interest groups,[1] and approximately 1,200 members worldwide.

In one of its publications the organization has formulated its vision as one of building "global understanding of near-death and near-death-like experiences through research, education, and support".

This group was founded by researchers John Audette, Bruce Greyson, Kenneth Ring and Michael Sabom in 1978.

The presidencies of Ring and Greyson (1981–83) marked the beginning of professional research on the topic of NDE's, leading up to the establishment of the Journal of Near-Death Studies in 1982.

[13] Elizabeth Fenske took over the presidency from John Alexander in 1986, and was involved in the relocation of the main office to Philadelphia in the late 1980s.

Local branches were established in major U.S cities, and the first national IANDS conference was held at Rosemont College (PA) in 1989.

[13] In 2008, during the presidency of Diane Corcoran, the organization established its current headquarter in Durham, North Carolina.

"[34] The 2014 conference was held in Newport Beach (Calif.) and gathered the attention from the newspaper The Epoch Times, which produced several reports from the meeting.