Gordon Jackson Rees (8 December 1918 – 19 January 2001) was a British anesthesiologist, recognized as a pioneer in pediatric anesthesia.
[Gordon H. Bush]
"Gordon Jackson Rees FRCA FRCP FRCPCH: Pioneer of Paediatric Anaesthesia"
''Proceedings of the History of Anaesthesia Society'' 29(June 2001): 92-95.
Early life and education
Gordon Jackson Rees was born at
Oswestry
Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the England–Wales border, Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5 road (Great Britain), A5, A483 road, A483 and A495 road, A495 ro ...
,
Shropshire
Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
, the younger son of Thomas Archibald Rees and Ethel Jackson Rees.
[T. C. Gray]
"Lives of the Fellows: Gordon Jackson Rees"
''Munk's Roll'' 11(Royal College of Physicians): 472. His father was a marine engineer in the
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...
. He studied medicine at the
University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...
. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Rees served in the medical branch of the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
, and was stationed in
Freetown, Sierra Leone from 1943 to 1945. After the war, he pursued further study in
anesthetics
An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia — in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into tw ...
, earning his diploma in 1946.
Career
Rees worked at the Royal Southern Teaching Hospital in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, where he worked with
Thomas Cecil Gray and senior surgeon
Isabella Forshall in advancing the safety and effectiveness of anesthesia, especially for children. Rees was a consultant at five hospitals, but over time began to focus exclusively on pediatric anesthesiology.
In 1950, he published an important early paper on anesthesia in
neonatal
In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to Juvenile (orga ...
surgery. "The time has come to consider the problem of anaesthetizing the newborn in relation to their peculiar physiology," he asserted,
[G. J. Rees, "Anaesthesia in the Newborn" ''British Medical Journal'' 2(1950): 1419-1422.] and proceeded to consider that problem for the rest of his career. Rees introduced several practices now standard in managing anesthesia in young patients, including premedication, endotracheal intubation, and muscle relaxants.
Rees' work was recognized with a Joseph Clover Medal and a Frederick Hewitt Medal, both from the Royal College of Surgeons of England; he also received the John Snow Medal from the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain, and the Robert M. Smith Award from the
American Academy of Pediatrics
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is the largest professional association of pediatricians in the United States. It is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, and maintains an office in Washington, D.C. The AAP has published hundreds of poli ...
. He was a fellow of many professional organizations, and served a term (1976-1979) as president of the Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland; in 1986 he was appointed first president of the Federation of European Associations of Paediatric Anaesthesia.
Rees retired from practicing anaesthesia in 1983; in retirement he was a guest professor at
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Erasmus University Rotterdam ( ; abbreviated as EUR) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century Christian humanist and theologian.
Erasmus M ...
for a year. In 1997 he gave a series of video interviews to a medical history researcher at
Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University (OBU; formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Th ...
.
Personal life
Gordon Jackson Rees married Betty Schofield in January 1943, while both were in medical school. They had four children. The astronomer