James Alex Speaks

Alex was eight years old when he watched the attacks unfold on 9/11. Motivated by the countless tales of heroic men and women serving in the ensuing War on Terror, Alex enlisted as an infantryman in the U.S. Marine Corps shortly after finishing high school.

During his four-year tenure as a Marine, Alex served on two combat deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. Those deployments proved to be transformative for Alex as he was struck by the staggering amount of civilian casualties and the general lack of medical infrastructure in the war-ravaged communities. At the same time, he was moved by the actions of the Navy corpsmen with whom he served as they plied their life-saving craft on the many military and civilian casualties they encountered. Ultimately, these experiences sparked his desire to bring quality healthcare to vulnerable and underserved populations.

Now a nurse in a Trauma Surgical ICU in Seattle, Alex is also advancing his education through graduate studies at the University of Washington. His goal is to leverage his leadership skills and medical knowledge to drive meaningful change in healthcare. Alex is committed to improving care for vulnerable populations and addressing the needs of those caught in humanitarian crises globally.