Dr. Alex Valadka, BS & BA ’83, born to Lithuanian parents and raised in Chicago, comes from a long line of doctors, but he is the only person in his family to have attended the University of Dallas.
While all his siblings went to the University of Illinois, Valadka was drawn to the Catholic character of UDallas. Later in life, he realized the gift of the Core Curriculum and the spiritual formation he received, both of which contributed to his growth as a leader and inspired him to service. Affectionately reflecting on how God’s Providence led him to UDallas, Valadka likes to joke, “God looks after fools and UD students…and the two are probably synonymous.”
Valadka’s career path has been marked by impressive growth and intentional thoughtfulness for his family and patients in need of his expertise. After graduating second in his class from UDallas, Valadka went on to attend medical school at the University of Chicago, where he developed an interest in traumatic brain injury and neurocritical care. He completed his residency at Medical College of Virginia and then secured a faculty spot at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, enjoying the opportunity to conduct research in addition to treating patients. He has since held positions as chair of the department of neurosurgery at Virginia Commonwealth University, president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and as a consultant to Major League Baseball for traumatic brain injury. Valadka currently serves as chief of neurological surgery for the Parkland Health & Hospital System and professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center, where he specializes in neurotrauma and neurocritical care.
In September 2023, at a conference in Maryland, Valadka met Dr. Rocco Armonda, an acquaintance who also specializes in traumatic brain injury, and learned about his work in Ukraine with soldiers and civilians injured in the war with Russia. That interaction ignited a passion in Valadka. Armonda was working with a group called Razom (meaning “together” in Ukrainian), a non-profit that has been providing aid to Ukraine since the illegal occupation of Crimea in 2014. After their conversation, Valadka pursued a desire to serve close to the front lines and made connections at Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro, Ukraine, 60 miles from the front lines of the war. He now travels there twice a year to work alongside expert surgeons and ICU doctors, led by head of neurosurgery Dr. Andrii Sirko.
Valadka says that his career success pales in comparison to the suffering of the citizens of Ukraine and the difference he can make there. Each visit, he secures donated tools for surgery, marveling at the expertise of the Ukrainian surgeons who carefully perform surgeries without the image guidance and extensive tools available in American hospitals. He also helps his Ukrainian colleagues analyze their data and publish and present their techniques for patient management, which have revolutionized military medicine, at international meetings. Dnipro, the closest major city to the front lines of the war, is constantly under attack itself, and Valadka explained that Mechnikov Hospital sees not only soldiers but also many civilians injured in targeted drone attacks. Doctors and nurses, he says, are not only responding to constant emergency cases, but also worrying for their own families’ safety and filling in for the 30% drop in workforce that the hospital has suffered since the start of the war, due to Ukrainians leaving the country or going to fight in the war.
Valadka initially wondered if he was doing enough to help the Ukrainian people, until he began to realize the value of presence, showing human dignity to those the world has forgotten. Compelled by the urging of a local doctor at the end of one of his visits: “Please don’t forget about us,” Valadka seeks to raise awareness for the ongoing need of the Ukrainian people in hopes that we, too, will not forget them.
