Alan graduated from the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology with a first-class Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2017. He specialised in the area of Biomedical Engineering and was awarded the GMIT Academic Achievement award for outstanding academic excellence. He was also the recipient of the Boston Scientific Student of the Year award, in recognition of having achieved the highest overall grade in the area of mechanical engineering and delivered the graduates address.
Upon completion of his degree, Alan joined the Medical & Engineering Technology Gateway team and commenced working on an Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership, developing human cranial vascular models to test devices that treat haemorrhagic and ischemic stroke. Alan holds excellent previous practical experience with over 11 years’ employment in the area of welding and fabrication, skills which he now employs in the design and fabrication processes of patient-specific cardiovascular models. At present, he is working under an Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership between GMIT and Industry, developing a bio simulation system for the evaluation and testing of trans-catheter aortic valve replacement devices.
Alan is currently undertaking a PhD, experimentally evaluating the dynamics and characteristics of blood clot emboli within the intra/extra cranial vasculature and its effects on cerebral perfusion.