Short Story
KBTGSP Students Kelly Barnett and Vakar Khan with Sir Alan Craft
The 2012 season of the Keith B. Taylor Global Scholars (KBTGSP) Lecture Series commenced on January 25th with a talk entitled ‘Child Health in the Developing World’, presented by Professor Sir Alan Craft, FMedSci, FRCPCH, FRCP, FRCPE, FRCA, FRCR, FRCPI, FAAP, FIAP, Emeritus Professor of Child Health at Newcastle University.
The Global Scholars Lecture Series [GSLS] committee was delighted to welcome such a distinguished paediatrician to give the first lecture of 2012, especially on a topic that has been recognised as a major world health issue by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations.
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Full Story
Sir Alan’s talk included a wide range of aspects of global child health, including a review of the various targets and initiatives set by the World Health Organisation and United Nations to address this issue. He gave an overview of the eight Millennium development goals of the UN, but focused particularly on goal 4, ‘Reduce Child Mortality Rates’, discussing the success (or otherwise!) of developing nations in achieving the goal of reducing child mortality.
Sir Alan concluded his presentation by showing how some cancers, specifically Wilms’ tumour and Burkitt’s lymphoma, can be treated effectively and cheaply in countries whose populations do not have widespread access to more sophisticated western therapies.
After the lecture, representatives of the GSLS committee and the Paediatrics Club committee, together with the Associate Dean, Dr David Holmes, hosted a dinner at a Newcastle tapas restaurant in honour of Sir Alan and Lady Anne Craft. The KBT students present were able to engage at first hand with an eminent UK physician, and with Lady Anne who is a distinguished former matron (principal nurse) of Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary. As always, on these occasions, the KBT students impressed their guests with their knowledge and enthusiasm for medicine and with their previous engagement with medically-orientated experiences.
During the evening, Kelly Barnett, representing the GSLS committee & the GSMS, and Vakar Khan, Chair of the Paediatrics Club, presented Sir Alan with cheques to the value of £313.00 and £235.00 respectively as donations to the North of England Children’s Cancer Research Foundation. The NECCRF had been chosen as the favoured charity of the former Term 2 KBT students (now in Grenada) and the cheques presented to Sir Alan were the latest result of the fund-raising efforts of those past students and those now in Term 2 in Newcastle. Events included a Doctor’s auction, another Talent Night and a coin collection. It is a credit to the KBT students that support of the NECCRF is to continue, with the current Term 2 & Term 1 students again choosing this organisation as a major focus of their charitable donations this year.
Sir Alan Craft trained as a paediatrician and a paediatric oncologist and spent 25 years, setting up and directing an oncology service for the North of England. The management of bone tumours in young people has been his special clinical and research interest and he has been a leader of major studies both in the UK and across Europe. He was Chairman of the UK Children’s Cancer Study Group (UKCCSG), Director of the Northern Institute for Cancer Research, and instigator of the North of England Children’s Cancer Research Foundation [NECCRF], a charity still close to his heart. At a national level in the UK, he was President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and has also chaired the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. In the global context he has been both Secretary General and President of the International Paediatric Oncology Society. Recently, Sir Alan led a UK government-sponsored independent review of palliative care for children. He received his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 for services to medicine.
By Dr. David Holmes
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