ABOUT ALEX
Inventor. Artist. Speaker.
Alex is a 25-year-old serial inventor, artist, and physician. He was awarded as the Queen’s Young Leader by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
At age 12, his chance encounter with a visually impaired woman inspired him to develop the iAid, a novel navigation device for the blind. His work on the iAid has taken him from visually impaired communities to winning second place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. The Organization of American States named the iAid one of the "Top 50 Ideas Worldwide for Technology in Health, Energy, and Medicine". A minor planet was named after Alex by MIT's Lincoln Laboratory. iAid is exhibiting at the Ontario Science Centre, and from 2022-2026, at the Bombardier Museum of Ingenuity.
Alex teamed up with GM/Chevrolet to create a new technology ("Call me Out") to stop teens from texting and driving. The technology debuted at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France.
His latest project is Pickle, which uses novel AI-powered algorithms to expedite decision-making in medicine. Clinical trials in the USA and Canada have shown improvements in diagnostic accuracy of 54-95% across multiple specialities.
Alex was recognised as one of “Canada’s Future Leaders under 25” by Maclean’s magazine, and is a face of Mead/Five Star’s digital campaign around creativity in education. Alex met Sir John Major and Prince Harry at 10 Downing Street around incubating leadership.
Alex is a highly sought-after speaker and media presence. He frequently speaks internationally on the topics of leadership and disability. Alex spoke on the national tour of WE Day to over 160,000 youth about the importance of creativity in stadium-sized venues. He has shared stages with world-renowned activists including Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, Nick Jonas, Magic Johnson, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Alex gave two TEDx talks in Monte Carlo and Frankfurt.
Alex harnesses his talents outside of science to tackle problems in unconventional ways. In his spare time, he is an avid artist who was first inspired after painting a portrait of Steve McCurry’s Afghan Girl. He competed for Team Canada in the International Children’s Winter Games in Giant Slalom and Ski Cross. He completed chemical engineering prior to a medical degree and surgical training.
Featured by CBS, CBC, The Huffington Post, The Globe and Mail, Maclean's, CTV Canada AM, etc.
NEWS
Upcoming events have been postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled dates will be announced shortly.
MEDIA GALLERY
PAST TALKS
South Summit
Madrid, Spain
Heroes Euro-Mediterranean Co-Innovation Festival
Maratea, Italy
TEDxMonteCarlo
Monaco
TEDxFrankfurt
Germany
Thrival Innovation Festival Pittsburgh, USA
Queen's Conference on Philanthropy
Kingston, Canada
WE Day National Tour
Across North America
Weston Family Innovation Centre
Toronto, Canada
AND MORE...
TESTIMONIALS
He's thoughtful, very intelligent, and someone who cares about people.
Dr. Hooley McLaughlin, Chief Science Officer - Ontario Science Centre
Alex is an incredible young innovator. He's got it all. I think that it will be very exciting to see what he does next.
Nancy Lockhart, Director Loblaws Companies
I can't wait to use iAid. I think that it will improve my life. We should encourage this product to be in the market.
Tarek Abderrazik, visually impaired user
GET IN TOUCH!
Inquiries will be sent to Alex's manager.