AAlan is a Physician Scientist at Trinity College Dublin, Children’s Health Ireland, and St. James’s Hospital. He trained in Dermatology and Genetics in Belfast, Great Ormond Street and Northwestern, as a Fulbright Scholar.

His research aims to improve the lives of people with both common inflammatory and rare genetic skin disorders and focusses on characterisation of the skin barrier, host: microbiome interactions, drug development for atopic dermatitis and drug repurposing for rare diseases.

Alan's discovery, with Irwin McLean, of filaggrin variants in atopic dermatitis demonstrated the centrality of the epithelial barrier in the pathogenesis of atopic/allergic diseases, which affect >1.5 billion people.

He has contributed to several patents, more than 350 peer reviewed scientific papers and has given Keynote/Plenary Lectures at NIH & Keystone Symposia and the principal global Dermatology (AAD, EADV, WCD) & Allergy (AAAAI, EAACI) Conferences.

Alan was a Founding Director (current President) of the International Eczema Council, Founding Director of the Irish Skin Foundation, Founding Chairperson/Director of NISR, a non-profit provider of skin disease registries.

He is Past President of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, which represents > 4000 Irish Hospital Specialists.

Alan's work has been recognised internationally, viz: Paul Gerson Unna Prize (German Derm Soc), Whimster Prize (BAD), Research Project of the Year (Times Higher Education) & prize/named Lectures: MB Sulzberger (AAD), Parkes-Weber (RCP), Watson-Smith (RCPEdin), Dolovich (AAAAI), ESDR Plenary Lecture (EADV), Hurwitz (SPD), Honig (CHOP/U Penn), Goltz (U Minn).

He has been elected to The Royal Irish Academy, and the Academia Europaea. He is an International Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and an Honorary Member of the Société Française de Dermatologie.