Alan Horgan graduated from University College Cork in 1988. Having spent a few years in Ireland on a Basic Surgical Training rotation, he travelled to Harvard Medical School where he completed his MD in Surgical Immunology. His Higher Surgical Training was obtained in the West of Scotland Rotation and he then went on to become a clinical Fellow in Colorectal Surgery at The Mayo Clinic.

He was appointed as Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at Freeman Hospital in Newcastle in 1999 and has since concentrated his clinical and research efforts on Enhanced Recovery after Colorectal Surgery and Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery.