Alan Craft

Sir Alan William Craft (born 6 July 1946 in Newcastle upon Tyne) is a British paediatric oncologist and Emeritus Professor of Child Health at Newcastle University. 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.

Life Craft did his clinical training at the Newcastle University Medical School from 1964, qualifying in 1969 with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery.

He then undertook an MRC Fellowship, working for a year at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, before returning to Newcastle. 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.

In 1985, Craft returned to work full-time at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, as a Senior House Officer. Between 2006-08, Craft, along with Sue Killen, chief executive of St John Ambulance, undertook a major review of palliative care services for children in England for the Secretary of State,

Craft continued to work in his speciality until his retirement from clinical practice in November 2009.

Charities Craft established the North of England Children's Cancer Research Fund in 1978.

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. 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". He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2003 and was awarded the James Spence Medal in 2008.