Robert Wayne Alexander was born on March 19, 1941, in Memphis, Tennessee. After he graduated high school, Alexander was accepted to the
University of Mississippi where he graduated in 1962. Alexander then attended classes at
Emory University While at Emory, Alexander was a regular at the Emory faculty's Saturday Morning Clinical Cardiology at
Grady Memorial Hospital. In 1967 he obtained from Emory University his M.S Degree and a year later he obtained his Ph.D. Upon graduation from Emory, Alexander attended
Duke University School of Medicine, graduated in 1969, and then began an internship under James Wyngaarden. He would return to Duke in the mid-1970s to complete his cardiology fellowship as a member of the
United States Public Health Service. Alexander took up residency at the
University of Washington School of Medicine which he completed a few years later. ==Career==