# Alexandra (Alex) Zimmerman

> Alexandra (Alex) Zimmerman is the CEO and co-founder of BrainSpec. She studied mechanical engineering at Tufts University, biomedical engineering at Brown University, and earned an MBA at Harvard Business School. Previously a product development engineer at Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Synthes, she co-founded BrainSpec with Alexander Lin and was selected as a 2016-2017 Harvard Blavatnik Fellow.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-Founder at BrainSpec
- **Organizations:** BrainSpec, Johnson & Johnson, DePuy Synthes, Harvard University
- **Education:** BS in Mechanical Engineering, Tufts University, MS in Biomedical Engineering, Brown University, MBA, Harvard Business School
- **Known for:** Received Harvard Business School’s R.F. Jasse Distinguished Award in Entrepreneurship and Leadership., Selected for the 2016-2017 Harvard Blavatnik fellowship., Co-founded BrainSpec with Alexander Lin.

## Career timeline

- **Before 2014** — Worked in research and development as a product development engineer at Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Synthes.
- **2015** — BrainSpec formed through a Brigham and Women’s Hospital iHub brainstorming session; Zimmerman co-founded the venture with Alexander Lin while at HBS.
- **2016** — Earned her Harvard MBA; BrainSpec won its Tufts competition track and Harvard’s student business crowd-favorite prize and entered MassCONNECT.
- **2016-2017** — Selected as a Harvard Blavatnik Fellow in Life Science Entrepreneurship.
- **2017** — BrainSpec joined Techstars Boston and became Data Collective’s choice winner in Google Cloud’s Machine Learning Startup Competition.
- **2025** — Appeared on Modev’s CES Future of NeuroTech panel; BrainSpec announced its University of Minnesota AutoVOI commercialization collaboration in September.

## Achievements

- Received Harvard Business School’s R.F. Jasse Distinguished Award in Entrepreneurship and Leadership.
- Selected for the 2016-2017 Harvard Blavatnik fellowship.
- Co-founded BrainSpec with Alexander Lin.
- Led BrainSpec when it won the $2,000 student business crowd-favorite prize at the 2016 HBS New Venture Competition.
- BrainSpec was Data Collective’s choice winner in Google Cloud’s 2017 Machine Learning Startup Competition.

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Listed as a co-author on a BrainSpec research abstract in the 2026 ISMRM annual meeting program.
- **2025-09** — BrainSpec announced an exclusive-license collaboration with the University of Minnesota to commercialize AutoVOI; Zimmerman spoke about the collaboration in an interview.
- **2025-01** — Joined Modev’s CES 2025 panel, The Future of NeuroTech: Exploring Tomorrow’s Innovations.

## Links

- Website: https://brainspecmed.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrarosszimmerman

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/alexandra-zimmerman
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-14