 Professor Graeme Clark AC, Australia’s inventor of the multi-channel bionic ear, will receive the CSL Florey Medal in a ceremony in Parliament House, Canberra this evening.
The CSL Florey Medal is awarded biennially to an Australian biomedical researcher for significant achievements in biomedical science and/or human health advancement. In addition to the silver medal, the award currently carries a prize of $50,000 due to the generous support of CSL Limited.
The invention of the multi-channel cochlear implant (bionic ear) by Professor Clark in the late 1970’s, has transformed the lives of over 250,00 people around the world, both adults and children. In winning the CSL Florey Medal, Professor Clark joins an elite list of Australian medical researchers following in the footsteps of Howard Florey, who developed penicillin. They include:
- Nobel Laureates Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, for discovering that bacteria cause stomach ulcers;
- Jacques Miller, who unravelled the role of the thymus in the immune system;
- Colin Masters, for his pivotal work on Alzheimer’s disease;
- Peter Coleman, who unveiled the structure of the flu virus, leading to the anti-flu drug Relenza;
- Ian Frazer, for the development of the vaccine against cervical cancer.
The medal has been presented every two years since 1998 by the Australia Institute of Policy and science (AIPS).
The President of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Suzanne Cory AC, welcomed the Florey Medal announcement.
“I am delighted to hear that Professor Graeme Clark has been honoured with the Florey Medal. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science since 1998, Graeme’s work has brought hearing to hundreds of thousands of people. Through Graeme’s interest and work in neuroscience, auditory perception, speech science and mathematical modelling he has developed a deep understanding of brain function and sensory coding. He has used this knowledge to develop an interface between the acoustic environment and the central auditory brain pathways – otherwise known as a bionic ear. This innovation allows severely and profoundly deaf people to hear speech and other sounds. Graeme’s interest in this area has only grown since the first bionic ear was implanted 30 years ago. His ongoing work to develop a new generation cochlear implant using microelectronics will no doubt similarly benefit people in Australia and around the world. Graeme’s contributions to science, knowledge and humanity are well deserving of this recognition”, she said.
Professor Clark today also announced that he has accepted an appointment with NICTA, Australia’s national research centre of excellence in Information and Communication Technology, to continue his hearing research.
From Left: Susmita Saha (bionic eye), Nina Erfanian (bionic ear), Graeme Clark, Kelvin Layton (neuroimaging), Isabell Kiral-Kornek (bionic eye).
Professor Clark will be located at NICTA’s Victoria Research Laboratory, based at the University of Melbourne, where most of his early work on the bionic ear was conducted. Professor Clark will lead a new project aimed at developing technologies capable of providing new types of hearing implants that can improve various aspects of auditory perception for hearing loss patients.
Professor Clark will be working with Professor Terry Caelli, leader of NICTA’s Health Business Team. Their work will draw on the skills and staff from NICTA’s Control and signal Processing Group and the Victoria Research Laboratory’s expertise in microelectronics and biomedical device development.
Professor Clark will be mentoring the next generation of bionics researchers at NICTA and the University if Melbourne.
“I have been involved with hearing research for so many years, some people might think there are no more discoveries to be made, but that is so far from the truth,” said Professor Clark. “I feel as though, in many ways, we are just at the beginning of our understanding of how hearing works. I am really excited by the potential of this project, with the support of the incredible expertise here at NICTA, to help the hearing-impaired to perceive many more sounds than are currently possible”, Professor Clark said.
Professor Caelli said Professor Clark would bring a wealth of valuable experience to the team. “At NICTA we have considerable expertise in the control and signal processing research area which we are eager to apply. We want to understand more about how people process auditory information, so we can help them hear more clearly,” he said. “Graeme’s experience, drive and passion for research will be of immense benefit to our work and I am looking forward to achieving some exciting outcomes. At NICTA we have a real depth of expertise in the control and signal processing research area, and we are eager to apply it to the goal of helping people hear more clearly. “
The closing word goes to Professor Clark. “Awards are always welcome. They are a nice confirmation that this work, initially thought to be quite mad, has finally been recognised by others. But this award is special because it recognizes Florey, who was an outstanding scientist whose work benefited humanity. And it is Australian”.
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