Richard Bonenfant, Ph.D., is a retired research scientist and lecturer. His research career at Albany Medical Center Hospital and the New York State Department of Health was centered on the study of birth defects in newborn children. With advanced degrees in Anthropology and Psychology, Dr. Bonenfant served as an adjunct professor at Siena College in Loudonville, NY and City College in Gainesville, FL. He most recently retired from the Veterans' Hospital in Gainesville, Florida, and is credited with publishing several professional articles on near-death experiences.

As a researcher, he is dedicated to the investigation of phenomena that lie on the fringes of scientific understanding. Subjective phenomena include such things as near-death experiences, synesthesia, xenoglossia, savant syndrome and hyperthymestic syndrome or individuals with exceptional autobiographical memories. Objective phenomena includeverifiable paranormal experiences, crop circles and strange mutilations of unknown origin. There are other unusual phenomena deserving of investigation which I occasionally delved into under appropriate circumstances. These ancillary phenomena include instances of foreign accent syndrome, cases of apparent reincarnation, and human abduction experiences.