vailsymposium

Academic neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander III, whose career includes decades as a physician and associate professor at Harvard Medical School and revered teaching hospitals, was once staunchly committed to the materialist worldview — the belief that the physical world is all that exists. His scientific belief system was altered by his 2008 transcendental near-death experience (NDE), an odyssey into another realm during a week-long coma. Despite a bleak medical prognosis, Dr. Alexander awoke to make an inexplicable return to full health. His medical case and recovery were validated in the peer-reviewed Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. Since his NDE, Dr. Alexander has been reconciling his rich spiritual experience with quantum physics, cosmology and the philosophy of mind. Dr. Alexander speaks around the world to educate about the role that consciousness plays in wellness, healing and recovery.

A pioneering scientist and modern thought leader, Dr. Alexander has been featured in more than 400 media interviews including for ABC-TV’s Good Morning America and 20/20, The Dr. Oz Show, Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday, Larry King Now, Fox and Friends, Discovery Channel, Biography Channel and numerous international radio, digital and podcasts.

His books are available in more than 40 countries: “Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife,” “The Map of Heaven: How Science, Religion, and Ordinary People Are Proving the Afterlife,” and “Living in a Mindful Universe: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Heart of Consciousness,” co-authored with Sacred Acoustics co-founder Karen Newell.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Alexander received his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine in 1980. He taught neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School in Boston for fifteen years, and has performed over 4,000 neurosurgical operations. During his academic career he authored or co-authored over 150 chapters and papers in peer-reviewed journals, authored or edited five books on radiosurgery and neurosurgery, and made more than 230 presentations at conferences and medical centers around the world. Since his NDE, Dr. Alexander has dedicated himself to sharing information about near-death experiences and what they teach us about consciousness and the nature of reality. He continues to promote further research on the unifying elements of science and spirituality.