Alan earned his first academic degree, in chemistry, from University of Leeds in the United Kingdom; he went on to earn a postgraduate diploma in the conservation of paintings from Courtauld Institute of Art in London in 1984. 

Alan's work at the Getty Conservation Institute focuses on paint analysis, primarily to assist Getty Museum paintings conservators and visiting conservators with paintings in their care. He has also begun working with Decorative Arts and Sculpture Conservation at the Museum, studying the paints and coatings on outdoor works in the Museum's Fran and Ray Stark Sculpture Garden. Additionally, he is participating in the Modern Paints research project and was instrumental in new scientific discoveries about Jackson Pollock’s “Mural”.