F. Gwendolen Rees
Welsh zoologist and parasitologist
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Through Systematics and Parasitism
Early life and education
Rees was born in the Welsh town of Abercynon in 1906, and attended the Intermediate School for Girls in Aberdare, (1918–24). She attended University College, Cardiff (now known as Cardiff University) with three scholarships. During her time there, she studied chemistry, biology and zoology, earning honours in zoology. Rees then went on to complete her doctorate in 18 months, studying the trematode parasites in different species of snails. Over the course of 100 days she collected more than 5,000 snails from nearly 90 locations in Glamorgan and Monmouthshire counties in Wales.
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Career
Rees' career was at the Zoology Department of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, where she successively held positions of Assistant Lecturer (1930–7), Lecturer (1937–47), Senior Lecturer (1947–66), Reader (1966–71) and Professor (1971–3), becoming professor emeritus in semi-retirement in 1973. She was also Chairman of the School of Biological Studies (1972–3) and acting Head of Department (1948, 1969, 1970). During her time as a staff member at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth Rees supervised 215 honours students and 25 post-graduate students.
Her research was in the area of helminthology, focusing on systematics, comparative functional morphology, histology and life cycles of trematode and cestode parasites. Her work was important in elucidating the relationship of these parasites with their non-vertebrate intermediate hosts.
From 1960 to 1981 Rees was involved with the publication Parasitology. For the first 10 years, she was a member of the editorial board and then went on to serve as chair of the editorial board until 1981. She was a founder member of the British Society for Parasitology, and served as its vice-president (1970–72) and president (1972–74).
Rees died in Aberystwyth, on 4 October 1994.