Prior to joining Memorial, he taught at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, and did a post-doctoal fellowship at Laurentian University in Northern Ontario. His major research interests centre around coral reefs and environmental impacts on them, the paleoecology of fossil coral reefs, and the biogeography and conservation of deep-sea corals. Additional research interests include the impacts of mining on reefs and other marine environments, marine protected area design, and marine habitat mapping.