Graduated with honours from the Universities of St Andrews and Manchester. Understook Postgraduate tarining in the Regional Cardac Centres in Liverpool and Wythenshawe Hospital Manchester. Obtained the Doctor of Medicine degree from manchester in 1986. After Locum consultant appointments in Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast and Barnsley District Hospital; appointed as substantive Consultant Cardiologist Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS foundation Trust in 1992. Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Medicine London and Edinburgh and Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology.