He studied undergraduate medicine at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and undertook his medical training at the Royal London. Dr Rawcliffe moved to Oxford in February 1976 to take a job as a house officer at the Churchill Hospital. Subsequently he worked as a registrar at the gastroenterology unit at the Radcliffe Infirmary, where he also undertook a research fellowship under Dr Sidney Truelove. He specialised in Coeliac disease, undertaking research, writing books and setting up the Oxford Coeliac clinic. In November 1986, Dr Rawcliffe began work as a GP in Botley, where he continued to work until retirement in 2000. He was extremely hard working and well respected by both patients and colleagues.