Professor Marcus Atlas AM – Inventor of ClearDrum

Professor Atlas has dedicated his career to helping people with ear and hearing disorders as a distinguished surgeon-scientist.

As the Chair of Translational Ear Science at Curtin University, Emeritus Professor UWA and Head of a team of internationally renowned tympanic membrane biology and regeneration applied science researchers, Professor Atlas has an international reputation in ear and skull base surgery.

Professor Atlas was appointed as a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday 2022 Honours List in recognition of outstanding leadership in hearing research, innovation and education. During his surgical career of over 30 years, Professor Atlas identified a need for innovation in treating chronic tympanic membrane perforation.

The ClearDrum initiative was launched in 2012 with the goal of overcoming limitations in the current surgical procedure, with the aim to achieve reduced costs, minimal invasiveness, and quicker healing of the eardrum.

Professor Atlas and Professor Xungai Wang from Deakin University travelled to London and were awarded US$2.75 million by The Wellcome Trust Translation Fund to finance human clinical trials to bring this implant to market as quickly as possible to reduce the impact of perforated eardrums worldwide.

Collaborating with several independent and renowned Australian & international surgeons, including ear surgeons John Dornhoffer, Dr Philip Chang from St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney and Dr Magnus Von Unge, University of Oslo, Prof Atlas has incorporated their needs and expectations into the ClearDrum design developed over the last 10 years.

“With 30 million people worldwide living with eardrum perforation each year, we need consumer-focused innovation in the treatment and care of chronic middle ear disease.

The obstacles to MedTech innovation are many. We have identified these barriers, and we know that our off-the-shelf implant will resolve these barriers in a single, straightforward surgical procedure to make a significant difference to our world.”

Professor Marcus Atlas