Professor Alan St Clair Gibson

MBChb PhD MD

Associate Dean (Research)

Role at Hull York Medical School

Professor Alan (Zig) St Clair Gibson is the Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Health Sciences, and overseas the research and business profile and development of the entire Faculty, including HYMS. He also is a Professor of Medicine in HYMS.

Biography

Professor Alan (Zig) St Clair Gibson is currently the Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Hull.

Prior to this he was the Deputy Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Science and Health at the University of Essex. He has previously been Dean of the Faculty of Health, Sport and Human Performance at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, and Head of the School of Medicine at the University of Free State, South Africa.

Prior to this he was first Director of Research / Chair of Integrative Neuroscience and then Head of Department in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Northumbria University.

He graduated from the University of Cape Town with an MBChB in 1990, a PhD in 1997 and a MD in 2002. He has previously been an Associate Professor in the MRC/UCT Research Unit of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine at the University of Cape Town, and a Research Fellow at the Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, at the National Institutes of Health, Washington DC, USA.

He has published more than 150 research publications, is a world-leading expert in the field of control system theory, has an H-index of 57, an I10-index of 129 and a citation count of 11 365.

He publishes a monthly blog (ziggibson.wordpress.com) of academic and research interest which has attracted more than 48 000 readers.

His wife, Kate, and he have two children, Luke (15), and Helen (12), and he enjoys spending time with his family, walking his dogs, reading history, cycling and doing any other sport when he has the time to do so.

Research

I have both PhD (1997) (Physiology) (UCT) and MD (2002) (Human Biology) (UCT) degrees, and my main research interests span across the fields of integrative neuroscience, basic brain function, health, and sports medicine and exercise science.

I am a world leader in my principle research field (integrative control mechanisms in health and disease), with more than 150 research publications and substantial research income generated either as a team leader or individually, and my work in these research fields is highly cited (H-Index 57, H10-Index 129, Citation Count 11 365).

Teaching

Neuroscience, Anatomy, Physiology, Neurology, Sport and Exercise Sciences.

Collaborations

Multiple Internationally and Nationally with Collaborators past and present in the UK, USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Russia, Australia, South Korea, Holland, amongst others

Postgraduate research supervision

Regulation of activity, Mechanisms of Fatigue, Multiple System Data Analysis, Psychobiology of activity and performance, Addictions and Drive.

External roles

Previously Research Fellow at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, USA; Associate Professor at the Research Institute of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine at the University of Cape Town; Director of Research and Head of Department at Northumbria University, Head of the School of Medicine at the University of the Free State in South Africa; Foundation Dean of a new Faculty of Health and Human Performance (incorporating a potential new Medical School) at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, and an Associate Dean (Research) at the University of Essex.

Also a 0.2 Professor in Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Worcester, and a 0.2 Professor of Neurology at St Georges Medical School in Grenada. Previously an alternate member of the South African Council of Medical Deans, a member of the National Academy of Academic Pathologists Committee of the National Health Laboratory Services of South Africa, and the Universitas Hospital (Bloemfontein, South Africa) Remunerative Work Outside Public Service Committee, amongst others, and am a past Vice President of both the South African Physiological Society and South African Sports Medicine Association, and was previously a Head of Department representative on the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences Heads of Department forum, and an honorary Consultant at the East Sussex and North Essex NHS Trust.

Honours and awards

2002 - Fogarty International Traveling Fellowship Award: Funding to work at the Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, with world renowned Neurologist Scientist, Dr Mark Hallett.

1999 - Transact South African Sports Medicine Congress Established Scientist Best Research Paper Award: Efferent motor command governing muscle power output is decreased during endurance cycling activity.

1998 - Medical Research Council Postdoctoral Scholarship, University of Cape Town.

1997 – RA Noakes Postdoctoral Research Scholarship, University of Cape Town.

1994 - Duncan Baxter Research Scholarship, University of Cape Town.