Notable for his work as a neurosurgeon at several Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Virginia hospitals, Alexander is perhaps best known as the author of Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife, a New York Times bestselling memoir describing his 2008 near-death experience while suffering from meningitis.
After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he received his medical degree from Duke University.
He published his second work -- The Map of Heaven: How Science, Religion, and Ordinary People Are Proving the Afterlife -- in late 2014. His third book, Living in a Mindful Universe, was co-authored with Karen Newell.
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, he returned to his home state after attending a private boarding school in New Hampshire during his high school years.
He and Anita Moorjani both had life-changing near death experiences and often appear at the same conferences about the science and the meaning of consciousness.