Cure Leukaemia co-founder thanks those who congratulated him on his CBE

THE co-founder of Birmingham-based charity Cure Leukaemia, Professor Charlie Craddock has thanked the many people to have congratulated him on the award of his CBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours.

Prof Cradock, who is Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Professor of Haemato-oncology, at the University of Birmingham, said the award was simply a recognition of the “immense hard work by doctors, nurses, child co-ordinators” and many others who did so much to make pioneering treatment and research into blood cancer available to more people.

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He said: “It’s been fantastic to have an opportunity to be the pipeline that links some remarkable advances in the scientific understanding of blood cancer with patients who desperately need new treatment.”

Prof Craddock said the award was also recognition of the increasing influence of Birmingham on the national and global stage and how significant the research was in helping to drive forward the city’s economy.

“Working with the LEP and government to see Birmingham emerge as an international centre of life sciences and translational medicines is fantastic,” he said.

“None of this would have been possible without the fantastic environment offered by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Dame Julie Moore and by David Adams and David Eastwood at the University of Birmingham.”

He said that going forward there was still a lot to be done.

“We have to remove blocks to patients seeing the latest advances in treatment and drive to fund more research,” he said.

However, he said the desire to collaborate with the University of Birmingham remained as strong as ever.
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