The British Veterinary Association has welcomed Welsh farm vet and academic Dr Gwenllian Mair Rees BVSc (Hons) PhD FHEA FRSM FRCVS as BVA president for 2026-2027.
Dr Rees brings a wealth of experience across farm and equine practice and academia to the role. Apart from serving as BVA’s Welsh branch president from 2023 to 2025, she is one of the founding academics at Wales’ first School of Veterinary Science, at Aberystwyth University, where she now works as a lecturer.
She is also well known among the Welsh farming and veterinary community as the project lead for Arwain DGC’s Veterinary Prescribing Champions Network, a Welsh Government-funded national antimicrobial stewardship programme, for which she was recognised with an RCVS Fellowship last year.
In her first address to members as president, Dr Rees introduced her theme for the year: a profession prepared and united behind national disease resilience.
Her focus reflects BVA members’ growing concern about how the UK veterinary profession would respond to a major notifiable disease outbreak, and how vets across all areas of practice could be better supported to play their part.
In her speech, she emphasised that disease resilience doesn’t mean every vet needs to be a specialist; instead, her theme encourages the profession to think more broadly about readiness, skills, training and the ability to mobilise quickly if an emergency affects animals, clients, businesses and communities.
During her presidential year, BVA said it will continue its work on other major issues for the profession. These include helping members navigate implementation of the Competition and Markets Authority reforms, and ensuring any changes work in practice for veterinary teams, clients and animal welfare, as well as continuing the long-running campaign to reform the Veterinary Surgeons Act.
Dr Rob Williams FRCVS moves into the senior vice president role, while zoo and wildlife medicine specialist Dr Fieke Molenaar MRCVS has been elected to the role of junior vice president.
