Associate Director, Office of Postdoctoral Affairs
Alan Marsh
Dr. Alan Marsh is the primary administrator responsible for the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. Alan directs initiatives and oversees the implementation of training programs for the UNC postdoctoral population. Other responsibilities include providing resources, centralizing communications, informing policy, liaising with different offices across campus, and engaging with faculty. Alan enjoys highlighting the achievements of UNC postdocs and providing a support network to help provide community for postdocs working at the university.
As a molecular microbiologist, Alan’s research focused on finding bacterial solutions for gut health via probiotics and prebiotics. He received his PhD from University College Cork in Ireland, where he studied the microbial populations of fermented foods, and peptide antimicrobials. Following a year working as a postdoctoral associate researching how probiotics can be used to improve gut health in piglets, he moved to UNC-CH to work with the Microbiome Core and the Azcarate-Peril lab. Here, he studied the gut microbiome of human organ donors, performed expression analyses, and studied the impact of nutritional fiber on gut microbial populations. A passionate advocate for postdocs, Alan was chair of the UNC Postdoctoral Association for 2 years before transitioning to his current role as Associate Director for the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.