A Keele University student who has become the third generation in her family to qualify as a doctor says she is looking forward to 'helping people and making a difference'.

Millie Dyer, aged 26, follows in the footsteps of her mum Dr Liz Clark, who qualified in 1992, and her grandfather, Dr Peter Clark, who graduated in 1967.

Millie, from Hilderstone, Staffordshire, said: "It was a very proud moment at the graduation ceremony alongside my parents and my grandfather, who turns 80 in September and drove up from Wales to be there on the day.

"I’ve never felt any pressure to be a doctor and continue what has become a bit of a family tradition. I didn’t want to be a doctor when I was at school because I thought my mum worked too hard and I wanted an easier life than that, but I couldn’t imagine doing anything else now."

Millie joined more than 2,000 students at the University's summer graduation ceremonies, of whom 172 graduated with a degree in Medicine.

Millie will now enter the Foundation Programme, a two-year work-based training programme in the NHS at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, Yorkshire. Dr Liz Clark currently works as a locum doctor in Staffordshire and the Midlands, and Dr Peter Clark retired as a GP in 2002 but still works in occupational health and carries out mental health assessments in care homes.

Millie, a former Denstone College student, said: "I did my undergraduate degree in Biology because I was quite good at science in school and college and enjoyed it as a subject. It was during those three years when I started to grow up and mature and think more seriously about what I wanted to do, and medicine as a career was appealing.

"I carried out some work experience with my mum and at Royal Stoke University Hospital, and then after finishing my Biology degree, I got further experience as a healthcare assistant at a care home in Staffordshire before I applied to study Medicine at Keele.

"I lived at home while I studied at Keele and that was really nice because I had my mum there to ask questions on what I’d been learning. It was helpful having her insight and perspective as a GP, although I think my dad got sick of it at the end, because he'd leave the room whenever we started discussing medical things!

"I had a very positive experience at Keele. A five-year course might sound like a long time, but so much time was spent on placements at hospitals that it didn’t always feel like you were at university. We were also taught by lecturers who are practising GPs in the community, and that was brilliant for us as students to be getting that real world knowledge.

"At the end of my Foundation Programme I would like to go on to become a GP. I like the idea of seeing people regularly in a surgery and getting to know them on a personal level, and hopefully help improve their lives in any way possible and make a difference to society."

Mother Dr Liz Clark said: "Millie's graduation was a very proud day for all her family. I know, with her strong work ethic and determination, her education and skills she has learned at Keele, along with her compassionate personality, that Millie will make an excellent doctor.

"As my father knows, and I know, a career in medicine, especially General Practice is so fulfilling and rewarding. It is a vocation and I think must be in our genes."