Ray Avery (scientist)

Sir Raymond John Avery (born 1947) is a New Zealand pharmaceutical scientist, inventor, author and social entrepreneur.

Personal life
Avery was born in Kent, England. 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. 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 charted his life from childhood in English orphanages and foster homes to knighthood.

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.

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.

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.

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. It was registered as a charity in New Zealand in 2008 and is also known as the Sir Ray Avery Foundation.

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

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

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. In 2008 the Acuset was a finalist in the Saatchi & Saatchi World Changing Ideas Awards.

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. 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.

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". 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.

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. As of July 2018, NZ$4.5 million had been spent in development including NZ$2 million raised from public donations. Avery apologised in 2018 for not being clearer to donors about the progress of the work. 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".

In March 2019 it was reported that the Lifepod would begin hospital trials in India in July, but this did not eventuate. In 2022, on announcing that he was leaving New Zealand and moving to Australia, Avery said opposition to a planned concert in 2018 at Eden Park to raise funds for the Lifepod was a "pivotal moment" leading to his decision to leave.

Infant and child nutrition products
Avery's agency Medicine Mondiale developed the infant formula "Proteinforte" for the treatment of protein-energy malnutrition. 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.

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: