Dr. Peter Fitzgerald, the founder and managing director of Randox Laboratories - and whose career has spanned the worlds of scientific research and the business of marketing the fruits of such research - was presented with the Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the Index 30 luncheon.
After studying biochemistry at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Fitzgerald obtained a Medical Research Council scholarship to study for a PhD at the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London. He additionally gained two MRC Fellowships at The Queen's University of Belfast.
Dr. Fitzgerald founded Randox in 1982 and the County Antrim-based company has now grown to nearly 850 staff in 26 countries. The company's staff includes 185 research and development scientists. Randox develop, manufacture and market a wide range of clinical and veterinary diagnostic reagents and systems and are now the largest indigenous manufacturer of diagnostics in Ireland and Britain.
Dr. Fitzgerald and Randox have won numerous awards over the years. Randox was awarded the Mac Robert Award for Technology in 2003 for the evidence biochip system and have been awarded five Queen's Awards for Enterprise (the latest in 2007). Dr. Fitzgerald has been a winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and the UTV (Ulster Television) Business Eye Business Personality of the Year. He was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Ulster for services to Economic Development in 2010 and in 2011 was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to business in Northern Ireland.
Randox is at the forefront of innovations and developments in diagnostics with the introduction of the world's first automated multi-analyte biochip system, an immunoassay platform that is revolutionizing healthcare across the globe.
