TWO sisters are celebrating after both graduating as doctors.

Heather Doran, 27, joined Joanne as a qualified academic doctor when she graduated from her PhD course at the University of Aberdeen.

Medic Joanne, 24, is already a junior doctor working in Burnley and Blackburn for the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, with ambitions of becoming a GP.

Proud dad Donnie, co-owner of Burnley recruitment firm Neville Gee, said the girls’ achievements were testament to the local education system.

The sisters, from Lowerhouse, Burnley, attended Wellfield Methodist and Anglican Church School, Ivy Bank High School (now Hameldon Community College) and completed sixth form at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School.

Mr Doran said: “Heather was a scientist with manufacturer Proctor and Gamble before deciding to do a PhD in stem cell research in breast cancer.

“She was invited to spend 10 weeks at the University of Cincinnati to support their research in the same area. She was also invited to San Diego by the American Institute of Biological Sciences to be a guest blogger at their annual convention.” She founded and edited Aberdeen University Science Magazine as a student there.

She now has a job at the university, tasked with engaging local schools, businesses and members of the public to make science more accessible.

Joanne spent two months last year as a volunteer doctor in a hospital in Kandy, Sri Lanka, and another two months as a medical director working with under-privileged children in Chicago.

She graduated from the University of Manchester with a degree in medicine last year.

Mr Doran said: “I’m incredibly proud of them, as any parent would be.”