The Annual Cosmos & Creation Conference

Andrew has been asking questions about reality, truth, and God since he was very young, and he has long been fascinated by the human mind and its complex workings. While a medical student, he met Dr. Eugene d’Aquili, who was studying religious experiences. Combining their interests with Andrew’s background in neuroscience and brain imaging, they were able to break new theoretical and empirical ground on the relationship between the brain and religion. 

Andrew’s research now largely focuses on how brain function is associated with various mental states—in particular, religious and mystical experiences. His research has included brain scans of people in prayer, meditation, rituals, and trance states, as well as surveys of people's spiritual experiences and attitudes. He has also evaluated the relationship between religious or spiritual phenomena and health, and the effect of meditation on memory. He believes that it is important to keep science rigorous and religion religious. 

Andrew has also used neuroimaging research projects to study aging and dementia, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, depression, and other neurological and psychiatric disorders. 

He has published over 250 peer reviewed articles and chapters on brain function, brain imaging, and the study of religious and mystical experiences. He has published 14 books, which have been translated into 17 different languages. He was listed as one of the 30 Most Influential Neuroscientists Alive Today by the Online Psychology Degree Guide. He has presented his work at scientific and religious meetings throughout the world and has appeared on Dr. Oz, StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Good Morning America, Nightline, 20/20, CNN, ABC World News Tonight, as well as in the nationally distributed movies: “What the Bleep Do We Know?”; Bill Maher’s “Religulous”; and “Awake: The Life of Yogananda.” His work has been featured in a number of major media articles including Newsweek, Time, National Geographic, Discover, New York Times, O Magazine, Los Angeles Times, London Observer, Forbes, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Readers Digest. 

Dr. Alexander's 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.