Ray Avery (scientist)
Sir Raymond John Avery is a New Zealand pharmaceutical scientist, inventor, author and social entrepreneur in Mount Eden, Auckland, New Zealand.
Personal life
Avery was born in Kent, England. After spending his childhood in orphanages and foster homes, he developed an interest in science at the age of 14 while living rough in London and finding warmth in public libraries. He now mentors young people, speaking regularly at schools and universities. He was later educated at Wye College, a tertiary agricultural college in Kent.He settled in New Zealand in 1973 and became a New Zealand citizen within nine months. In 2010, Avery published his autobiography Rebel with a Cause, which charts his life from childhood in English orphanages and foster homes to knighthood.
Career
After graduating, Avery worked as an analyst in laboratories, in which he eventually took a shareholding. After leaving Britain and settling in New Zealand, he was a founding member of the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Auckland School of Medicine. He was then the technical director of Douglas Pharmaceuticals, where he developed and commercialised pharmaceutical and nutritional products.As Technical Director of the Fred Hollows Foundation, Avery designed and commissioned two state of the art intraocular lens manufacturing facilities in Asmara, Eritrea and Kathmandu, Nepal, and developed novel low cost lens manufacturing technologies, systems, and global distribution networks. The Fred Hollows Foundation laboratories now provide 13% of the world market for intraocular lenses and use technology invented and gifted by Avery. The mass introduction of regulatory-approved low-cost high-quality Fred Hollows lenses collapsed the global price of lenses, making modern cataract surgery accessible to the world's poorest.
In 2003, Avery founded the international development organisation Medicine Mondiale dedicated to making quality healthcare and equipment accessible to even the poorest developing nations around the world.
In 2009, Avery received a World Class New Zealand Award in the Life Sciences category.
Sir Ray is co–founder of Jupl NZ Ltd, a medical technology company.
Inventions
Avery’s inventions include:- Acuset IV Flow Controller: A device that facilitates the safe administration of potent IV drugs.
- Lifepod infant incubator: A high-tech low-cost incubator that uses patentable technology to reduce the mortality rates associated with upper respiratory tract infections of premature babies.
- Amino Natural: An amino acid based functional food used for the treatment and prevention of protein-energy malnutrition.
Medicine Mondiale
Projects
Intraocular lenses
Between 1993 and 1997 Ray Avery designed and commissioned two state-of-the-art intraocular lens laboratories in Eritrea and in Nepal. Together these labs now supply 10% of the world market for intraocular lenses and together with the efforts of other generic lens manufacturers have collapsed the price of lenses from over US$300 in 1992 to around US$6 today. As a result, cataract surgery is now available to the very poorest around the world.Acuset IV flow controller
The Acuset is a small device designed to control the flow of drugs through an intravenous drip. Unlike roller-clamp device still commonly used in the developing world, the Acuset is intuitive to use, even by untrained operators. It allows fine control and precision of flow rates, eliminating the accidental harm, and in some cases death, caused by incorrect drug doses. In 2008 the Acuset was a finalist in the Saatchi & Saatchi World Changing Ideas Awards.Infant nutrition
Medicine Mondiale has developed a range of nutritional productions for the treatment of protein-energy malnutrition. These are designed to combat acute diarrhoea, which is the leading cause of death in infants under two years of age in the developing world.Infant incubator
The Lifepod infant incubator is a low cost but high end incubator invented by Sir Ray Avery. The incubator is designed around performance, ease of use and simple maintenance in challenging conditions, such as in poorly resourced healthcare facilities with inconsistent power and water supplies.Much of the incubator's features have been designed in response to shortcomings in many current incubator designs, which are not always effective or practical in challenging conditions.
By combining an innovative microbial filtration system, as well as robust electronics and mechanisms, Medicine Mondiale intend for the Liferaft infant incubator to be a 'plug and play' solution for neonatal healthcare facilities, requiring little or no maintenance.
Books
Avery has published two books: the best-selling Autobiography “Rebel with a Cause” charting his life from street kid to Knighthood and “The Power of Us” celebrating New Zealanders who dare to dream.Honours
Avery has received awards including:| Year | Award | Notes |
| 2008 | Rotary Paul Harris Medal | |
| 2008 | Bayer Research and Development Innovator Award | Acuset flow controller |
| 2009 | World Class New Zealand Award for Biotechnology | |
| 2010 | TBWA Disruption Award | |
| 2010 | KiwiBank New Zealander of the Year | For designing technology used to produce low-cost intraocular lenses |
| 2010 | Sir Peter Blake Leadership Medal | |
| 2011 | Ernst and Young Social Entrepreneur Award | |
| 2011 | Readers Digest New Zealand's Most Trusted Person | |
| 2011 | Knight Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit | For his services to philanthropy |