In 1977 Alan was Dux of the School and winner of the King’s High School Old Boys Prize for All Round Merit. In 1976 he won the Special Prize for Form 6 Mathematics and Science and gained General Excellence in Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and English. He was a strong member of the King’s Debating Team.

On leaving King’s, Alan attended the University of Otago where he graduated MB ChB in 1983. From 1985 to 1991 he was undertaking Internal Medicine and Neurology Training at the Dunedin Public Hospital. He gained a Doctor of Medicine (MD) Degree with distinction at the University of Otago based on his work from 1991 to 1993. From 1993 to 1994 he had a Peripheral Nerve Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in the USA.

In 1994 he was an Australasian Registrar at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London. It was here he completed the Prescribed Postgraduate Specialist Training programme in Internal Adult or Internal Paediatric medicine of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, FRACP.

From 1995 to 1998 he had Neurology Fellowships at the Mayo Clinic, USA (involving movement disorders, cognitive neurology, EMG, stroke, multiple sclerosis, etc).

Alan is a member of the Neurological Association of New Zealand, the American Academy of Neurology, the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists, the Association of British Neurologists, the Peripheral Nerve Society and the Movement Disorder Society. He has been awarded a Fulbright Travel Scholarship and a Nuffield Travel Scholarship.

Alan’s current position is as a consultant Neurologist, Marinoto Clinic, Dunedin. He is also a consultant Neurologist at the Dunedin Public Hospital and a Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Otago. Alan’s expertise encompasses a broad range of neurological diseases with interests in headache, Epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, Stroke, Parkinson's Disease etc. His practice involves all areas of adult neurology.