Alan Hawk has been Collections Manager of the Historical Collections of the National Museum of Health and Medicine since 1987. He is responsible for care and development of a 15,000 artifact collection documenting the history of medical technology, with an emphasis on military medicine. In 2017, he retired from the U.S. Navy Reserve as a Senior Chief Petty Officer, with a 30 year career that included one deployment to Afghanistan in 2009 as well as previous service in the 1/115TH Infantry in the Maryland Army National Guard. Prior to his present position, he served as Assistant Historic Preservation Planner for the City of Wilmington, Delaware and as a Historical Consultant for the Methodist Action Program. He also assisted in the computerization project of the National Register of Historic Places for the National Park Service. He received his bachelor's degree in History from the University of Delaware in 1983. He is married and has two children