Alan Patrick is a Consultant Physician in Diabetes and Endocrinology in Edinburgh, having previously contributed to Acute and General Medicine also over a period of many years. He had qualified from the University of Edinburgh in 1981, completing his medical training in the Edinburgh area and Liverpool. He was the Vice President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh from 2013 to 2016 and also the Registrar (Director of Examinations) at the College from 2008 to 2013, and again briefly from 2016 to 2017. He was Training Programme Director for Diabetes and Endocrinology in south-east Scotland between 1999 and 2016 and was previously the Secretary of the Specialist Advisory Committee in Endocrinology and Diabetes in the UK, and representative for Endocrinology in the UK, on the Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes. He has examined all over the world in MRCP(UK) PACES and other national postgraduate examinations. He has taught on clinical skills and examination preparation courses in Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and the US, as well as courses closer to home, and was one of the founder members of the Excelpaces faculty. Most recently he was on the Steering Committee for the new PACES 23 examination, Chairing the Psychometrics group.