How a medical start up in the 1970s influenced a financial start up 40 years later?

We all have a reason for doing the things we do. I wanted to share a quick story on certain motivations behind the foundations Adviser Ratings, Australia’s first independent ratings and review platform. The advice industry has copped a battering of late, but is such an important profession for Australian consumers.

“In 1975, an Australian General Practitioner returned from the United States intent on transforming the medical landscape in Australia. He happened upon a new technology that automated the analysis of pathology, specifically biochemistry. The everyday blood tests we get from our doctors (ie your glucose and cholesterol levels, liver function tests, etc) used to take days of analysis as every sample had to be manually handled by a medical technician, biochemist or pathologist. This technology (known as SMAC or sequential multiple analyser with computer) suddenly turned what was a several day procedure into minutes, with hundreds of batches at once.

What he needed was the foresight of a pathologist who would back this new disruptive technology in Australia. After being knocked back by several pathologists, he found one working out of Concord Hospital in Sydney. Together they setup a company and went on to not only disrupt an industry, but became the industry. GPs and patients suddenly had access to more reliable, yet significantly cheaper blood tests and in 1/10^th of the time.

That GP was a man by the name of Bronte Douglas, and that pathologist was Bill Woods, my father. They started Douglas Laboratories as a joint venture, which went on to become Douglas Hanly Moir, Australia’s pre-eminent pathology house and leading profit division of Sonic Healthcare. Douglas Hanly Moir now employ over 2,500 people and Sonic Healthcare make more than $3bn in revenues annually with a $7Bn market capitalization. 

Whilst neither Bronte or my family have any involvement in Sonic Healthcare today, my father started a company on the belief that technology can improve outcomes for his patients and his GPs. Simply, he went into medicine with the overarching ideology to help people…..an ideology that helped form Adviser Ratings.

My father died several months ago – unfortunately he didn’t get to see Adviser Ratings launch, but I did let him know how much influence he had on its conception. A business built on trust, integrity and technology to improve the outcomes and decision making for everyday Australians.

We’re looking forward to bringing some exciting developments that will benefit both consumers and advisers over the coming months. Stay tuned.

Angus Woods, Managing Director, Adviser Ratings

Was this helpful content?Let others know - share and vote-up