Jim Dobbin MP was a a microbiologist within the NHS for 33 years until 1994

Jim Dobbin was born in Kincardine on Forth, Fife, Scotland, the son of a coal miner, and educated at the Catholic St Columba's High School, Cowdenbeath, and the Catholic St Andrew's High School on Overton Road in Kirkcaldy. He later went to Napier College, Edinburgh where he studied Bacteriology and Virology.

He worked as a microbiologist within the NHS for 33 years until 1994, mainly at the Royal Oldham Hospital. He was elected chairman of the Rochdale Constituency Labour Party for a year in 1980.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Dobbin