Thomas D. Rees
Thomas D. Rees (February 3, 1927 – November 14, 2013) was an American plastic surgeon who co-founded the Flying Doctors Service of East Africa in 1957, an organization that utilizes small aircraft to deliver medical care to remote areas in Africa.[1]
Biography
[edit]Rees was born in Nephi, Utah. He entered the University of Utah at sixteen and graduated with a medical degree by the age of 21.[2] He served as a U.S. Navy officer in 1945 and again from 1957 to 1958.[2] Rees trained in general and plastic surgery at the Genesee Hospital and New York Hospital–Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan.[2] He completed a fellowship in London under Archibald McIndoe and Harold Gillies.[2]
In 1956, while on fellowship in London, Rees traveled to Tanzania, where he provided emergency medical treatment to a severely injured local.[2] This experience motivated him to help establish the Flying Doctors Service of East Africa alongside Michael Wood and Archibald McIndoe.[2]
Rees served as a professor at the New York University School of Medicine and as a president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.[2] He organized an annual symposium for plastic surgeons, which attracted participants globally.[2] He retired in the mid-1980s due to osteoarthritis and moved to Santa Fe, where he pursued sculpting inspired by African cultures and wildlife.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ Stafford, Ned (December 31, 2013). "Thomas Rees". BMJ. 347: f7541. doi:10.1136/bmj.f7541 – via www.bmj.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Martin, Douglas (2013-11-22). "Thomas Rees, Plastic Surgeon Who Treated Africa, Dies at 86". The New York Times.