J. Alex Haller, Jr. was born in Pulaski, a town in southwestern Virginia, in 1927. After receiving his B.A. from Vanderbilt University in 1947, he studied at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and received his M.D. in 1951.

After his surgical residency at Hopkins, Haller moved to Kentucky and worked on the faculty of the University of Louisville, where he was named outstanding clinical professor in 1961, and as a pediatric surgeon at Louisville Children's Hospital.

In 1963 Haller returned to Johns Hopkins and joined the medical faculty in pediatrics, pediatric surgery and emergency medicine. He was Children's surgeon-in-charge from 1964 until 1997. Throughout, he pursued an interest in surgical problems of children, with a focus on congenital deformities of the chest wall, as well as on pediatric cardio-thoracic surgery and care for children with serious injuries. He wrote several books, including The Hospitalized Child and His Family (1967).

Haller established the regional trauma center for children at Johns Hopkins, the first of its kind in the United States. He also launched a training program for pediatric surgeons.

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