Graeme Clark AC, FAA, FRS, (Hon) FRCS
Our Patron is Prof Graeme Clark, a remarkable Australian who led the research that resulted in the first clinically approved multiple-channel cochlear implant, providing speech understanding in profoundly deaf people. His basic research was also crucial in establishing this could be achieved safely.
For his research, Graeme Clark has received numerous national and international awards and honours, including the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Fellow of the Royal Society London, Honorary Fellow of The Royal Society of Medicine, and an Honorary Fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons. In 2007, he was awarded the Zülch Prize from the Max Planck Society, Germany’s highest award in neuroscience. In 2010 he was awarded the Lister Medal, the most prestigious prize in the world for surgical science. In 2011 it was the Zotterman medal from Nobel Institute for Neurophysiology, Karolinska Institute Stockholm; and the CSL Howard Florey medal, Australia’s top award in medical science. In 2013 he was a co-recipient of the Lasker-De-Bakey Award for Clinical Medical Research, referred to as the American Nobel.