Updated Jan. 12, 2022

Clinical research skills and knowledge are a great tool for those in entry-level medical jobs hoping to advance their career or simply gain more extensive knowledge of healthcare. If you're a nurse, phlebotomist, pharmacy technician, dental assistant/ hygienist, physicians assistant, nurse practitioner, or work in a similar profession, clinical research can broaden your horizons and open new avenues of employment.

Updated Jan. 10, 2022

Clinical research changes the future of medicine and healthcare, helping doctors and scientists discover ways to identify and treat health conditions. Clinical research also provides the important bridge from basic science research that’s performed in a lab to applying results to help people. In a world that has seen the rise of a new global pandemic, this medical skill is more necessary than ever to stay on top of the latest treatments and get them to the public faster and with more precision.

Alan is an Irish educated paramedic with previous experience in a variety of settings in Ireland, Europe, North America and the Middle East. He is adjunct faculty with Portland Community College, faculty in the paramedic programs at Fanshawe College, London, Ontario, Canada and a Paramedic Educator with Hamilton Health Sciences in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is also a Prehospital Emergency Care and First Aid Program Manager with the International Committee of the Red Cross. He provides consultancy services to a number of organizations worldwide on research, clinical governance and educational matters. He is an editor and peer-reviewer for several publications including the Irish Journal of Paramedicine, and has affiliations with several organizations around the world as a paramedic researcher. 

Alan joins the Functional Nutrition instructor team to bring his expertise of research to the program. As a functional nutritionist, it is vitally important to discern between science-based and non science-based research. Alan has a background in teaching paramedics, and for the Functional Nutrition program he teaches the Research and Evidence-Based Practice for Nutritional Therapy course in Term 1. 

Alan also teaches in the Foundations of Clinical Research program in the modules Good Clinical Practice and Overview of Study Design.