Sir Ray Avery overcame remarkable odds to succeed as a scientist and inventor, then to change the world as a social entrepreneur.
Born in 1947 in Kent, England, Avery’s childhood was like something out of a Dickens novel. Abused by his parents, his mother even tried to sell him at one point. When he was made a ward of the state, he was shuffled between orphanages and foster homes, before running away at 14 to live on the streets of London.
Rarely attending school, Avery spent his time in libraries reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica and keeping warm in the Science Museum and Natural History Museum. A horticulture teacher reached out him during this period of homelessness, telling Avery he had the choice of doing the horticulture course at Wye College, or going to borstal for truancy. Avery naturally chose to attend the college.
After graduating Avery worked as a lab analyst and researcher, before moving to New Zealand in 1973. He was a founding member of the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Auckland School of Medicine. After leaving the University he moved to Douglas Pharmaceuticals, where he designed drug manufacturing facilities.
As Technical Director at Douglas Pharmaceuticals, Avery’s developments were extremely successful and he became reasonably wealthy. But what was already a pretty remarkable story of a man overcoming adversity would take an even more impressive turn.
In 1992 Avery met with Fred Hollows, shortly before Hollows began his eponymous foundation. Hollows challenged Avery to do more with his skills, telling him “Stop making money off sick people.”
After that transformative conversation, Avery became Technical Director of the Fred Hollows Foundation. He designed and commissioned two state-of-the-art intraocular lens manufacturing facilities in Nepal and Eritrea, developing low-cost technology and distribution systems. These labs now provide 13% of the world market for intraocular lenses, which are used to cure blindness caused by cataracts. The cost of the lenses manufactured in the facilities is just US$6, making them accessible to even the very poor.
Working for the Fred Hollows foundation Avery learned a great deal about medical challenges in developing countries, and set about developing other technologies to help save lives.
To do this, he set up Medicine Mondiale, a global network of scientific, medical, and business experts who donate their time and knowledge to make healthcare better in developing countries.
With a lab set up in Avery’s Mount Eden garage, the group invented the Lifepod - an incubator for premature babies which costs just 5-10% of a traditional incubator and is capable of handling rough conditions without needing expensive ongoing servicing.
Avery then developed the Accuset IV Flow Controller – a device designed to control the flow of drugs through an intravenous drip which can be used without training – preventing deaths caused by using cheap roller-clamps to administer potent drugs.
And after noting that kiwifruit was used by butchers to tenderise meat, Avery and Medicine Mondiale discovered a way to use kiwifruit enzymes and low-quality meat offcuts to create Protienforte – a high protein food supplement which can be digested and readily absorbed by children who are malnourished or ill.
All the products and technologies developed by Medicine Mondiale can be sold to traditional pharmaceutical and medical technology companies for use in the developed world, and the profits from this go toward subsidising their use in poorer areas.
For his services to philanthropy, Sir Ray Avery was knighted in 2011, and in 2010 he was named New Zealander of the year.
Avery firmly believes that one person can change the world, they just need to get started.