It was an honour to interview the man who dedicated his life to pushing the boundaries of medical innovation. Prof Clark is the inventor of the cochlear implant, a medical marvel affectionately also known as the Bionic Ear. The idea that you could give hearing to the deaf is astounding. We do it in so many ways through hearing aids, simple ear tubes, canal surgery, mastoid surgery, middle ear surgery and inner ear surgery. The cochlear implant is the profound example of biomedical engineering overcoming nerve deafness. What we have learned through cochlear implant for sensorineural deafness is now being actively applied to blindness and spinal cord paralysis. There was so much more that I received during the interview that I could not share because of word limit. An outstanding and inspirational surgeon scientist he truly is. Here is the interview published in the Sept/Oct Edition of ENT & Audiology News.
Above: picture of a dummy implant I held in my hand in my first year of ENT Training.