The Candlelighters Fellowship
Between 2015 and 2023 we funded the Candlelighters Fellowship, a programme developing a new generation of doctors with specialist expertise in childhood cancers.
To maintain a high standard of care for children and young people with cancer, hospitals need specialist doctors. Cancer care is improving thanks to research but cancer research is a fast-moving field. So, doctors need to have both medical expertise, an understanding of the newest research and the ability to apply it to improve the care of children and young people with cancer.
The Candlelighters fellowship allowed junior doctors to research different aspects of childhood cancer. As well as contributing to the body of research on children’s cancers, this programme helped to create highly trained doctors and attract and retain great medical staff in our region. By investing in people at the start of their careers, we have helped to improve care for children diagnosed with cancer now and in the future.
How did it work?
The fellowship was originally directed by Leeds consultants Professor Sally Kinsey and Professor Adam Glaser, then in later years by Professor Glaser and Dr Martin Elliott. In the programme, each of the Fellows spent three years carrying out research in Leeds under the supervision of a leading scientist, to achieve a qualification such as a PhD.
Alongside researching the Fellows continued to see patients, supporting cancer care in Leeds and helping to ensure their research was patient-focused. This meant that the hospital had additional doctors to provide medical care, particularly to cover at the weekends, meaning more consistent care for children and young people with cancer and their families. After the fellowship, the doctors continued their research or medical training to become the consultants of the future.
Candlelighters funded a total of nine Fellows through the programme. The funding included the Fellows’ salary for up to three years and anything needed for their research such as lab equipment. The Fellows carried out a variety of research, from clinical research with patients to fundamental research in the lab to data research with hospital records.
How did it help?
Although there are 21 childhood cancer centres across the UK, there are only a few fellowship programmes specifically focussed on childhood cancer like the one funded by Candlelighters. The Fellowship programme helped to improve cancer care for children and young people by:
- Attracting and retaining exceptional medical staff
- Improving understanding of research among medical staff
- Fostering an interest in childhood cancer research for now and in the future
- Making patients the focus of research and finding out what's most important to them
- Creating a pipeline of new researchers to maintain momentum in childhood cancer research
Just some of the studies conducted by the Fellows were on:
- Febrile neutropenia (fevers in people with low neutrophils). Looking at how the amount of time patients spend in hospital can be reduced by determining if a fever is routine or something more serious. This has resulted in new national guidance for paediatric oncologists and is getting children home from hospital quicker.
- The effects of chemotherapy on teenagers and young people. Investigating factors that might prevent patients from receiving the optimal dose of chemotherapy and how these can be prevented.
- The impact of cancer treatment on fertility. Discovering what impact treatment can have and how we can provide fertility and reproductive health support to young people, to give them the option of having their own children in the future. Some of this work has been used in discussions with NHS England to help work towards consistent fertility preservation services across the country.
Thank you to our brilliant supporters who made funding this research project possible. Together you have helped to build a brighter future for children and young people with cancer.
The life-changing research we fund is all thanks to support from donations and fundraising. We receive no government funding and only a small proportion of national cancer research funding is spent on researching children's cancers. Your support is vital to continue making progress. If you'd like to support our research, please donate today.
