Welsh Ambulance Service paramedic awarded honorary professorship
22.08.24
A WELSH Ambulance Service paramedic has been awarded an honorary professorship at a world-leading university.
Nigel Rees, the Trust’s Assistant Director of Research and Innovation, was inaugurated as an honorary professor at the University of Warwick Medical School’s Clinical Trials Unit.
Honorary titles are bestowed by universities to those who make a significant contribution to academic business, usually through research collaboration, clinical teaching or both.
Professor Gavin Perkins, Dean of Warwick Medical School, said: “Warwick Medical School is delighted to welcome Professor Nigel Rees to its honorary professoriate.
“His appointment recognises his significant and sustained contribution to research which has been vital in providing the evidence the NHS needs to transform services and improve outcomes for patients and their families.
“We look forward to a long-lasting collaboration with Nigel and the Welsh Ambulance Service.”
Professor Rees joined the ambulance service in 1989 as a cadet with Powys Ambulance Service, before progressing to the Patient Care Service then becoming an Emergency Medical Technician, working at various locations across south Powys.
He returned to Ystradgynlais as a Paramedic in 1993 and was Powys’s first Advanced Paramedic.
He left the Welsh Ambulance Service for a period to join the then Cwm Taf Local Health Board as an Advanced Emergency Practitioner within a team of Advanced Practice Nurses and Paramedics that was the first its kind in Wales.
His research interests include clinical trials, qualitative research, violence and aggression towards ambulance staff and the use of drones in pre-hospital care.
Professor Rees has led and contributed to more than 100 peer-reviewed articles.
He is Associate Editor of the Paramedicine journal and a member of many funding panels and groups, including the Bevan Commission, NHS Wales Research and Innovation Leadership Group and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
Over the years, Professor Rees has helped to secure funding worth £15 million for research and innovation projects and has been Chief and Principal Investigator on a number of large-scale trials.
He is a former Wales Council member of the College of Paramedics and a Fellow.
In 2017, Professor Rees was awarded the Queen’s Ambulance Service Medal in the New Year’s Honours List for exemplary service.
Professor Kieran Walshe, Director of Health and Care Research Wales, for which Nigel is a Chief Investigator, said: “We are delighted that Nigel has been recognised for his contribution and commitment to research over many years.
“We are proud to support him, both as a researcher, but also in the leadership role he has in Wales as Research and Development Lead in WAST.”
Professor Rees added: “I would like to thank Warwick University, all of my colleagues in WAST, and the people of Wales and beyond who continue to support research and are reflected in this honour.”
In April, the Welsh Ambulance Service was awarded University Trust status by Welsh Government in recognition of its commitment to develop its current and future workforce and to drive research and innovation.