[1] Her major research interests have been directed towards understanding the pathogenesis of brain injury resulting from fetal hypoxia, infection, alcohol exposure, growth restriction and prematurity.
[2] Sandra Rees was born in Melbourne in 1942, and moved to Sydney in 1952 as her father, an Army officer, was appointed to the School of Military Engineering at Casula.
In 1965 Rees received a Lady Leitch Scholarship for overseas study, and relocated to London to complete a Master of Philosophy at University College in 1968.
[3] Under the supervision of Dr Brian Cragg, Rees learned to perform electron microscopy to examine the ultrastructure of the normal and abnormal brain.
She also volunteers on the science program 'The Uncertainty Principal' on Vision Australia Radio and is on the board of directors of Life's Little Treasures Foundation,[4] a charity for children born sick or premature.