Sir Alan William Craft (born 6 July 1946 in Newcastle upon Tyne) is a British paediatriconcologist and Emeritus Professor of Child Health at Newcastle University.[1] Craft was most notable for work as one of nine founders of the Children's Cancer Study Group, focusing his research on paediatric oncology, especially the epidemiology of bone tumours that further led to an oncology research unit which has been involved in aetiological studies and in particular the role of irradiation in the development of childhood cancer.[2]
He then undertook an MRC Fellowship, working for a year at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, before returning to Newcastle.[3]
Craft retired in 2010, becoming Emeritus Professor of Child Health at Newcastle University.[3]
Craft's wife, Anne (Lady Craft), was a pediatric nurse.[4]
Career
Craft took further training in adult medicine, undertaking a series of paediatric posts before becoming a consultant in 1978.[5] His initial consultancy position was at North Tyneside General Hospital, where he worked along with a part-time position at Royal Victoria Infirmary developing what was considered the new speciality of paediatric oncology. He would grow the unit over the next 25 years into an oncology service for the north of England.[6]
In 1985, Craft returned to work full-time at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, as a Senior House Officer.[5] Training in rheumatology led Craft to an interest in joint diseases in children and from that he established a paediatric rheumatology service.[2]
In 1993, he was appointed to the Sir James Spence Chair of Child Health and became responsible for the teaching of undergraduate medical students.[5]
Craft established the North of England Children's Cancer Research Fund in 1978.[5]
Scouts
Craft was a member of the scouts movement when he was young, and in 2009 he was appointed as Chairman of the UK Scout Association, the largest and most successful youth organisation in the UK.[10] Craft is currently (2018) the County Chairman of the Northumberland Scouts.[11]
Hospital reorganization
On 31 July 2009, in a letter to the Newcastle upon Tyne newspaper The Journal, Craft expressed concerns about the local authorities' plan to restructure children's services in the region by moving them from North Tyneside General Hospital and Wansbeck General Hospital to a new hospital near Annitsford.[4] Craft stated in the letter that it would be difficult to staff the new hospital at Annitsford, due to a shortage of doctors and nurses, and that "develop[ing] in-patient emergency services for children in Cramlington [would] go against all current guidance and defies common sense". Craft stated that with the new hospital, there was an opportunity to provide world class services for "all children north of the Tyne, and perhaps further south", but the proposals meant that children "will be condemned to second rate services for the foreseeable future".[4]
Bibliography
Craft has over written over 300 articles and papers. These are the most cited articles:
Openshaw, Stan; Charlton, Martin; Wymer, Colin; Craft, Alan (January 1987). "A Mark 1 Geographical Analysis Machine for the automated analysis of point data sets". International Journal of Geographical Information Systems. 1 (4): 335–358. doi:10.1080/02693798708927821.
Birch, JM; Hartley, AL; Tricker, KJ; Prosser, J; Condie, A; Kelsey, AM; Harris, M; Jones, PH; Binchy, A; Crowther, D (1 March 1994). "Prevalence and diversity of constitutional mutations in the p53 gene among 21 Li-Fraumeni families". Cancer Research. 54 (5): 1298–304. PMID8118819.
Souhami, Robert L; Craft, Alan W; Van der Eijken, Jan W; Nooij, Marianne; Spooner, David; Bramwell, Vivien HC; Wierzbicki, Rafal; Malcolm, Archibald J; Kirkpatrick, Anne; Uscinska, Barbara M; Van Glabbeke, Martine; Machin, David (September 1997). "Randomised trial of two regimens of chemotherapy in operable osteosarcoma: a study of the European Osteosarcoma Intergroup". The Lancet. 350 (9082): 911–917. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(97)02307-6. PMID9314869. S2CID206010300.
Openshaw, S; Charlton, M; Craft, A.W; Birch, J.M (February 1988). "Investigation of Leukaemia Clusters by Use of a Geographical Analysis Machine". The Lancet. 331 (8580): 272–273. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(88)90352-2. PMID2893085. S2CID24476784.
Wiggs, Janey; Nordenskjöld, Magnus; Yandell, David; Rapaport, Joyce; Grondin, Valerie; Janson, Marie; Werelius, Barbro; Petersen, Robert; Craft, Alan; Riedel, Klaus; Liberfarb, Ruth; Walton, David; Wilson, William; Dryja, Thaddeus P. (21 January 1988). "Prediction of the Risk of Hereditary Retinoblastoma, Using DNA Polymorphisms within the Retinoblastoma Gene". New England Journal of Medicine. 318 (3): 151–157. doi:10.1056/NEJM198801213180305. PMID2892131.
