Dan graduated from Macalester College (biology) and the University of Minnesota (Pharmacognosy and Biochemistry/Cell Biology), where he published research on phospholipase action relating to cell death. He did his postdoctoral research at Hoffmann-La Roche. Dan subsequently became the research director of Vets Plus Inc., where he secured 10 patents related to animal supplements and authored book chapters on nutraceuticals. He currently manages Green Laboratories, which analyzes nutraceuticals for the human and animal industries.