Dr Corinne Rees, who passed away in December 2020, was a community paediatrician in Bristol, specialising in adoption. She was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the College in 2018, in recognition of her work with children and adoptive parents, the comprehensive service she developed, her teaching and her publications.
The establishment of the memorial lecture was made possible by Dr Corrine Rees’ husband, Dr Gareth Rees and the Illingworth Rees family, who made a generous donation to the College, keeping the incredible legacy of Dr Corrine Rees and her parents alive.
Dr Gareth Rees writes:
Corinne took advantage of her ‘extraordinary opportunity’ to develop a medical advisory service for children involved in adoption, and their adoptive families, which was highly regarded locally and beyond. She believed that friendliness, thinking about the wider picture, pragmatism, common sense, and humility are crucial to good doctoring.
This year’s inaugural Illingworth-Rees lecture was delivered by Professor Jack Shonkoff, Director of the Centre on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Professor Shonkoff gave a fantastic lecture which emphasised the potential long-term advantages of doing all that can be done to lessen difficulty and stress in the very early years of life, especially for disadvantaged children - an area Dr Corrine Rees felt passionately about.
We are looking forward to the next Illingworth-Rees Memorial Lecture which will take place at our 2023 RCPCH Conference and thank the Illingworth-Rees family for making this possible.
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