Former Cochlear CEO Professor Christopher Roberts is now Joint Professor of the PLuS Alliance, and will play a leading role in driving biomedical engineering research, innovation and entrepreneurship.
The PLuS Alliance is a partnership between several large multinational research programs at the University of NSW, King’s College London, and Arizona State University, with the aim of addressing global challenges in biomedical engineering.
In Australia, Professor Roberts will lead the charge to grow biomedical engineering's footprint both locally and around the world.
Professor Roberts has also taken on a new role at UNSW’s Engineering faculty. His appointment to both roles will help link UNSW Engineering and Medicine in complementary areas of expertise between the PLuS Alliance institutions, and also for identifying technology gaps that can be addressed via cross-border collaborations.
Professor Roberts has over 40 decades in the medical device industry, and spent 11 years as Cochlear’s CEO. The company’s bionic ear has helped more than 170,000 people. His experience, high-level advice and networks will allow him to build teams of engineers and medical professionals to address shortcomings in the biomedical field.
At the 2015 Engineers Australia Awards, Professor Roberts received the "Sydney Professional Engineer of the Year" award.
According to the University of NSW, Professor Roberts’ appointment is part of its strategic plan to raise its social and economic impact, with biomedical engineering playing a key role. Eventually, the Engineering faculty hopes to bring UNSW’s Biomedical Engineering to the same level as its Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering, which continues to set world records for solar-cell efficiency, and Quantum Computing.
This will be pioneering work for an Australian university: currently, biomedical engineering within Australian universities is at fledging stage by world standards: the industry and academia is small, and there are no stand-out players.
Yet, innovations in the Australian biomedical device industry have already managed to penetrate some important niches, with Cochlear being a standout example.
While he will be based at UNSW, Professor Roberts will spend significant amounts of time at the partnering universities, particularly in the initial stages, to identify the opportunities for collaboration.
In addition to his appointment as a PLuS Alliance Joint Professor, Professor Roberts is a non-executive director of ResMed, having served as Executive Vice-President for ResMed from 1992 until he became CEO of Cochlear.
Professor Roberts is also a member of the Jobs NSW Board, NSW Innovation and Productivity Council, Monash University Industry Council of Advisors, University of Technology Sydney Vice-Chancellor’s Industry Advisory Board, UNSW’s Faculty of Medicine Advisory Council, the Health Innovation Advisory Committee, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology.
He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute of Business and Economics at the University of Queensland.
He is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD) and Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia (FIEAust).