Alexa Irene Canady is a retired American neurosurgeon, medical educator, and public health advocate. She was the first African American woman in the United States to become board-certified in neurosurgery. In 1987, she was appointed chief of neurosurgery at the Children's Hospital of Michigan, where she served until her retirement in 2001. In addition to her pioneering surgical career, Canady was also a professor at Wayne State University and co-developer of a programmable antisiphon shunt system for the treatment of hydrocephalus.