Alex Valadka was born in Chicago in 1961. He attended the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, and then went on to the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. His interest in neurotrauma and critical care led him to pursue residency training at the Medical College of Virginia under Harold Young, where he was also influenced by John Povlishock, Paul Muizelaar, Tony Marmarou, and Guy Clifton, among others. Following residency, he joined the faculty of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, under Robert Grossman, where he also began working closely with Claudia Robertson. In 2006, he joined the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. In 2009, he moved to Austin to help establish an academic program at the newly created Seton Brain and Spine Institute, where he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. He returned to Richmond in 2015 to become Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Valadka has served as chair of the AANS/CNS Section on Neurotrauma and Critical Care, chair of the Neurosurgical Specialty Group of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, and chair of the AANS Public Relations and Membership Committees, as well as Chair of the Washington Committee for Neurosurgery. He is a past President of the AANS and a current Director of the ABNS.

Dr. Valadka's research interests include cerebral blood flow and metabolism after traumatic brain injury, as well as biochemical markers of brain injury. More recently, he has become involved in organized neurosurgery's efforts to work with other medical and governmental organizations to improve the delivery of emergency neurosurgical care, both in the United States and abroad.

In his spare time, Dr. Valadka and his wife, Patty, enjoy spending time with their two children.