Ray Avery (scientist)

Sir Raymond John Avery GNZM (born 1947)[1] is a New Zealand pharmaceutical scientist, inventor, author and social entrepreneur in Mount Eden, Auckland, New Zealand.

Avery (left), after his investiture as a Knight Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit by the governor-general, Sir Anand Satyanand, in 2011

Personal life

Avery was born in Kent, England.[2] After spending his childhood in orphanages and foster homes, he has said he developed an interest in science at the age of 14 while sleeping rough in London and finding warmth in public libraries.[3][4] He now mentors young people, speaking regularly at schools and universities.[5] He was later educated at Wye College, a tertiary agricultural college in Kent.[6]

He settled in New Zealand in 1973 and became a New Zealand citizen within nine months.[7] In 2010, Avery published his autobiography Rebel with a Cause, which charted his life from childhood in English orphanages and foster homes to knighthood.[2][6]

Avery announced in August 2022 that he was moving to Australia, citing societal reasons, including high rates of bullying, domestic violence, gang violence, and obesity, the high cost of living, institutional racism in healthcare and education, a "broken" hospital system, and opposition to a proposed fund-raising concert for the Lifepod at Eden Park.[8]

Career

After graduating, Avery worked as an analyst in laboratories, in which he eventually took a shareholding.[6] 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.[9]

In the 1990s, as Technical Director of the Fred Hollows Foundation, Avery designed and commissioned two intraocular lens manufacturing facilities in Asmara, Eritrea and Kathmandu, Nepal. Avery worked with other members of the team to develop replacement equipment when it became apparent that the manufacturing equipment originally commissioned by the foundation was not suitable.[10]

In 2003, Avery founded an organisation focussed on international development, Medicine Mondiale, which he described as dedicated to making quality healthcare and equipment accessible to even the poorest developing nations around the world.[11] It was registered as a charity in New Zealand in 2008 and is also known as the Sir Ray Avery Foundation.[12]

In 2009, Avery received a World Class New Zealand Award in the Life Sciences category.[13]

Avery is a co–founder of Jupl NZ Ltd, a medical technology company.[14]

Projects

Acuset IV flow controller

The Acuset is a small device designed to control the flow of drugs through an intravenous (IV) drip. It was designed to simplify administering drips and to be used in developing countries without adequate medical care.[9] In 2008 the Acuset was a finalist in the Saatchi & Saatchi World Changing Ideas Awards.[15]

In December 2019 it was reported by Newsroom that clinical trials at Auckland City Hospital in 2008 showed that the Acuset was not more accurate than an existing device called a "roller clamp" which was already used widely in developing countries.[16] The findings were subsequently published in a medical journal in 2015. Avery's position, set out in the article, was that the trials "did not reflect normal usage" of the Acuset and used an earlier version of the product.[16]

Avery subsequently made a complaint to the New Zealand Media Council against Newsroom for reporting on the study and on allegations that he had sought the retraction of the study's findings. The complaint was not upheld by the council, which concluded that the Newsroom article "contained no inaccuracy in relation to its key message of a threat to suppress publication of the results of tests relating to a device used to control intravenous drips, and indeed the complaint is not directed against that key message".[17] The Council noted that it was "made clear in the article that the test was on an earlier device, not the device currently marketed, and Sir Ray Avery's version of what has happened is set out in the article". The council was also clear that in its decision it was not commenting on the merits of the earlier version of the Acuset, the current Acuset or the research studies that had been carried out.[17]

Lifepod incubator

The Lifepod is an incubator developed by Medicine Mondiale with the goal of being low-cost, warm, sterile and robust, and suitable for distributing in poorer countries.[10] As of July 2018, NZ$4.5 million had been spent in development including NZ$2 million raised from public donations.[10] Avery apologised in 2018 for not being clearer to donors about the progress of the work.[18] In November 2018 the Department of Internal Affairs conducted a review after a complaint was made, and concluded it was satisfied that donations were being used properly, although it urged the foundation to consider "updating the public regarding the status of the LifePod incubators and managing their expectations as to when they will be most likely to be ready for delivery to Fiji".[19][20]

In March 2019 it was reported that the Lifepod would begin hospital trials in India in July, but this did not eventuate.[19] Little has been heard about the project since late 2019.

Infant and child nutrition products

Avery's agency Medicine Mondiale developed the infant formula "Proteinforte" for the treatment of protein-energy malnutrition.[21] The agency also developed a nutritional bar called the "Amigo Bar", based on amino acids, which are intended to be distributed in New Zealand schools to supplement children's diets through a for-profit social enterprise business.[22][23][24]

Books

Avery has published two books: the best-selling Autobiography Rebel with a Cause [25] charting his life from street kid to Knighthood and The Power of Us [26] celebrating New Zealanders who dare to dream.

Honours

Avery has received awards including:

YearAwardNotes
2008Rotary Paul Harris Medal
2008Bayer Research and Development Innovator AwardAcuset flow controller
2009World Class New Zealand Award for Biotechnology
2010TBWA Disruption Award
2010KiwiBank New Zealander of the Year[3]For designing technology used to produce low-cost intraocular lenses
2010Sir Peter Blake Leadership Medal[27]
2011Ernst and Young Social Entrepreneur Award
2011Reader's Digest New Zealand's Most Trusted Person[28]
2011Knight Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit[29]For his services to philanthropy

References
  1. "Ray Avery". Radio New Zealand. 2010.
  2. "Lessons from mean streets of London". The New Zealand Herald. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  3. New Zealander of the Year Awards Archived 23 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Who is Sir Ray Avery?". Newsroom. 25 July 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  5. Inspiring Kiwis: Ray Avery. Television New Zealand.
  6. "One Kiwi's determination to make a difference". Scoop. 29 July 2010.
  7. "Great end to glorious Christmas". The New Zealand Herald. 31 December 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  8. "Sir Ray Avery moving to Australia, citing gang violence and child poverty". Stuff. 26 August 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  9. Collins, Simon (1 December 2004). "NZ man aids millions with 15c water drip invention". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  10. Gibson, Eloise (25 July 2018). "Can Ray Avery turn promises into reality?". Newsroom. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  11. "About Medicine Mondiale". Medicine Mondiale.
  12. "Charity Summary". The Charities Register. Te Tari Taiwhenua Internal Affairs. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  13. World Class New Zealand 2009 Winners Archived 27 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Kea New Zealand.
  14. "Expertise, leadership and experience". Jupl. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  15. "World Changing Ideas award finalists announced". Saatchi & Saatchi. 22 January 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  16. Gibson, Eloise (6 September 2018). "Legal threat to suppress clinical study". Newsroom. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  17. Murphy, Tim (27 December 2019). "Media Council backs Newsroom over Ray Avery threat". Newsroom. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  18. "Sir Ray Avery's self-imposed deadline to have LifePod baby incubator ready expires". TVNZ. 13 March 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  19. Johnston, Martin (22 March 2019). "Sick or premature babies in India to be first to use Sir Ray Avery's LifePod incubators". NZ Herald. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  20. Gibson, Eloise (10 June 2019). "Inside Internal Affairs' Ray Avery inquiry". Newsroom. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  21. "NZ food partnership to combat global malnutrition". Massey University. 21 February 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  22. "Amino Natural Launches $1 Million Equity Crowdfunding Campaign". Scoop Independent News. Amino Natural. 19 November 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  23. Murphy, Tim; Russell, Alexis (1 August 2018). "Another delay for Sir Ray". Newsroom. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  24. "Amigo Nutrition Campaign". Amigo Nutrition. Sir Ray Avery Foundation. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  25. "Rebel with a Cause" Penguin Books
  26. "The Power of Us Beattie's Book Blog
  27. Sir Ray Avery Archived 5 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Sir Peter Blake Trust.
  28. Jones, Nicholas (20 June 2011). "Can you trust 'NZ's most trusted' list?". NZ Herald. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  29. "New Year honours list 2011". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
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