20 Facts About Alan Craft

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

Alan Craft chose pediatrics as his specialism, becoming a pre-registration house officer at the Royal Victoria Infirmary.

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

Alan Craft retired in 2010, becoming Emeritus Professor of Child Health at Newcastle University.

Alan Craft took further training in adult medicine, undertaking a series of paediatric posts before becoming a consultant in 1978.

Alan Craft would grow the unit over the next 25 years into an oncology service for the north of England.

In 1985, Alan Craft returned to work full-time at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, as a Senior House Officer.

Alan Craft was appointed by the Secretary of State, Charles Clarke to the new Post Graduate Medical Education and Training Board in January 2006 as the UK's new regulator of postgraduate medical education.

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

Alan Craft has a large number of professional memberships, both local and international.

Alan Craft was Chairman of the United Kingdom Children's Cancer Study Group between 1992 and 1994, and Chairman of the Medical Research Council Bone Sarcoma Committee between 1989 and 1996.

Alan Craft was a member of the MRC Cancer Therapy committee between 1989 and 1996, and of the Management Board of the UK Case Control Study of Childhood Cancer from 1992 onwards, and Honorary President of Together for Short Lives.

Internationally, Alan Craft was president from 1999 to 2005 of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology.

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

Alan 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.

Alan Craft is currently the County Chairman of the Northumberland Scouts.

On 31 July 2009, in a letter to the Newcastle upon Tyne newspaper The Journal, Alan 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.

Alan 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".

Alan 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".

Alan Craft was knighted with a Knight Bachelor for his services to medicine in 2005.