Mark Rees

Professor Mark Rees serves as Deputy Executive Dean (Research Partnerships) at the University of Sydney's Faculty of Medicine and Health. In this role, he oversees all flagship research centers, affiliated research institutes across three FMH precincts, and MDI inter-collaboration initiatives. He also leads the commercial and industry partnership strategy for the faculty, leveraging extensive experience in R&D commercial development with EU structural investments in South Wales, UK.

Professor Rees holds leadership positions across multiple prestigious organizations, including Chair of Flagship Centre Advisory Boards, Director at ANZAC MRI Board, member of the Governing Council for the Kolling Institute, Westmead Executive Hub, BMC & CTC Advisory Groups, NSW Gene/Cell Therapy Sub-committee, and co-Chair of the Sydney NanoHealth Forum. His educational background includes a 1st Class (Hons) BSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Wales (1989) and a PhD in Genomic Medicine from the University of Wales College of Medicine (now Cardiff University, 1993). He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, Royal Society for Biology, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and Learned Society for Wales.

Professor Rees has built an impressive research career spanning multiple continents. Previously, he held positions at Cardiff University (1989-1999), University of Auckland, NZ (1999-2004), and served as Professor of Neurology Research and Dean of Collaborative Partnerships at Swansea University Medical School (2004-2019), which is now ranked as the number-1 medical school in the UK. His research focuses on neurological disorders, particularly epilepsy, with emphasis on genomic medicine and translational research. Professor Rees leads international epilepsy research consortiums and the pathfinder project for OMIC dataset integration with routine healthcare records.

• Swansea University DSc for international contribution to biomedical sciences
• 2013 Seelye Foundation Fellowship
• Honorary Fellow of the Association of British Neurologists

Professor Rees has secured over $46 million in competitive research funding from organizations including MRC, Royal Society, NIHR, Welsh Government, and Wellcome Trust. His research spans neurogenetics, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and the integration of genomic data with clinical healthcare records, with publications in high-impact journals such as Nature Genetics, BRAIN, American Journal of Human Genetics, Lancet Neurology, and Molecular Psychiatry.