Dr Acland’s career has spanned practice in anesthesia, pain neuromodulation and rehabilitation, both in Auckland and Christchurch.

He graduated MBChB (Otago) in 1975.

He is a former President of the NZ Pain Society and was a member of the Medical Council of New Zealand for nine years.

Dr Acland, AFRM (RACP) has conducted many research projects and published widely. He has organized a number of scientific meetings in both pain and spinal cord injury: In 2017 he presented at the Australian and New Zealand Spinal Cord Society a paper on the use of cannabis in spinal cord injury (SCI).

Recently he coauthored a qualitative study at the Burwood Academy, assessing cannabis use for pain management in people with SCI.

He is a keen golfer.