Robert B. Ford

Last updated

Robert B. Ford
Robert B Ford.jpg
Robert Ford in 2018
NationalityAmerican and Brazilian
Education Boston College
Berkeley Haas (MBA)
Years active1996–present
Employer Abbott Laboratories
TitleChairman, chief executive officer
TermMarch 31, 2020 – present

Robert B. Ford is an American businessman and the thirteenth chief executive officer at Abbott Laboratories, a publicly-traded medical devices and health care company based in Abbott Park, Illinois. [1] He received a bachelor's degree from Boston College and an MBA from Haas School of Business. [2]

Career

Ford joined Abbott in 1996 within its diabetes care business, later heading the company's medical device businesses, and Abbott's integration of St. Jude Medical in 2017, its largest acquisition at the time. [3] [4] He was named President and COO in October 2018. [5]

On March 31, 2020, Ford became the chief executive officer of Abbott Laboratories, elected unanimously by the company's board. [6] [7] He stated that the sale of medical devices such as FreeStyle Libre and diagnostics would be prioritized while CEO as well as developing technology to monitor consumer health through smartphones and other connected devices. [8]

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ford led the company's COVID-19 testing development and distribution. He pulled Abbott's scientists and manufacturing teams off their projects to work on four teams, each focused on specific tests. The company introduced its first two tests in March 2020 and delivered more than 400 million in 2020. [9] [10] Ford said he considers Abbott's BinaxNOW test to be a model, setting a trend for rapid point-of-care testing after the coronavirus pandemic for ailments such as influenza, sexually transmitted diseases, and hepatitis. [11] In April 2020, Chief Executive recognized Ford for Abbott's response to accessibility for testing. [12]

On December 10, 2021, Ford was elected as chairman of the board for Abbott. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnson & Johnson</span> American multinational pharmaceutical and consumer goods corporation

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the company is ranked No. 40 on the 2023 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations. In 2023, the company was ranked 40th in the Forbes Global 2000. Johnson & Johnson has a global workforce of approximately 130,000 employees who are led by the company's current chairman and chief executive officer, Joaquin Duato.

Abbott Laboratories is an American multinational medical devices and health care company with headquarters in Green Oaks, Illinois, United States. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate known drugs; today, it sells medical devices, diagnostics, branded generic medicines and nutritional products. It split off its research-based pharmaceuticals business into AbbVie in 2013.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated is an American clinical laboratory. A Fortune 500 company, Quest operates in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Brazil. Quest also maintains collaborative agreements with various hospitals and clinics across the globe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ResMed</span> American medical equipment company

ResMed Inc. is an American medical equipment company based in San Diego, California. It primarily provides cloud-connectable medical devices for the treatment of sleep apnea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other respiratory conditions. ResMed produced hundreds of thousands of ventilators and bilevel devices to help treat the respiratory symptoms of patients with COVID-19. ResMed also provides software to out-of-hospital care agencies to streamline transitions of care into and between these care settings for seniors and their care providers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miles D. White</span> American businessman (born 1955)

Miles D. White is an American businessman. He had a 38-year career with Abbott Laboratories, most prominently being CEO between 1999 and 2020.

St. Jude Medical, Inc. was an American global medical device company headquartered in Little Canada, Minnesota, U.S., a suburb of Saint Paul. The company had more than 20 principal operations and manufacturing facilities worldwide with products sold in more than 100 countries. Its major markets include the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. The company was named after Jude the Apostle, the patron saint of lost causes.

Jon R. Cohen is an American physician, business executive, and former public official who is currently the CEO of Talkspace, one of the largest telehealth, mental health companies in the U.S. He was previously executive chairman and CEO of Bioreference Laboratories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hologic</span> American medical technology company

Hologic, Inc. is an American medical technology company primarily focused on women's health; it sells medical devices for diagnostics, surgery, and medical imaging.

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, more commonly known as Labcorp, is an American healthcare company headquartered in Burlington, North Carolina. It operates one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the world, with a United States network of 36 primary laboratories. Before a merger with National Health Laboratory in 1995, the company operated under the name Roche BioMedical. Labcorp performs its largest volume of specialty testing at its Center for Esoteric Testing in Burlington, North Carolina, where the company is headquartered. As of 2018, Labcorp processes 2.5 million lab tests weekly.

The Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine is a global scientific society dedicated to clinical laboratory science and its application to healthcare. ADLM's current president is Octavia M. Peck Palmer, PhD, FAAC, and the association headquarters are located in Washington, D.C..

Theranos Inc. was an American privately held corporation that was touted as a breakthrough health technology company. Founded in 2003 by then 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos raised more than US$700 million from venture capitalists and private investors, resulting in a $10 billion valuation at its peak in 2013 and 2014. The company claimed that it had devised blood tests that required very small amounts of blood and that could be performed rapidly and accurately, all using compact automated devices that the company had developed. These claims were proven to be false.

Ron Zwanziger is an Israeli-American businessman. He is best known for founding and leading the diagnostic test manufacturer Alere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 pandemic in Canada</span>

The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019. It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta. Confirmed cases have been reported in all of Canada's provinces and territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic</span> Medical material and other goods shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic

Shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic are pandemic-related disruptions to goods production and distribution, insufficient inventories, and disruptions to workplaces caused by infections and public policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NHS Test and Trace</span> Government COVID-19 agency in England

NHS Test and Trace was a government-funded service in England, established in 2020 to track and help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The programme is part of the UK Health Security Agency; the service and the agency are headed by Jenny Harries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coronavirus breathalyzer</span> Diagnostic medical device

A coronavirus breathalyzer is a diagnostic medical device enabling the user to test with 90% or greater accuracy the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in an exhaled breath. As of the first half of 2020, the idea of a practical coronavirus breathalyzer was concomitantly developed by unrelated research groups in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, United Kingdom and USA.

The government of Texas's initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the state consisted of a decentralized system that was mostly reliant on local policies. As the pandemic progressed in Texas and throughout the rest of the country, the Texas government closed down several businesses and parks, and it eventually imposed a statewide stay-at-home order in late May. Then, between May and June 2020, the state government initiated a phased reopening, which was viewed as controversial. The reopening was phased back in June and July 2020 following a new surge of COVID-19 cases in the state. In March 2021, as COVID-19 vaccines began to be administered throughout the U.S., the Texas government reopened the state again.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Kingdom responses to the COVID-19 pandemic</span>

The United Kingdom's response to the COVID-19 pandemic consists of various measures by the healthcare community, the British and devolved governments, the military and the research sector.

The New Zealand Microbiology Network (NZMN) is an advisory group to the Ministry of Health in New Zealand. It was established in 2014 through a contract from the Ministry of Health to the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR).

References

  1. "Abbott Labs veteran CEO White to step down next March". AP News. November 13, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  2. Peter Loftus (November 13, 2019). "Longtime Abbott Labs CEO Miles White to Step Down in March". The Wall Street Journal.
  3. Allison Gatlin (November 13, 2019). "Medtech Giant Elects New CEO As 21-Year Veteran Steps Down". Investor's Business Daily.
  4. Robert Channick (November 13, 2019). "Abbott CEO Miles White to step down in March". Chicago Tribune.
  5. Daniel Allar (October 15, 2018). "Robert Ford named president, COO of Abbott". Cardiovascular Business.
  6. Nick Williams (January 22, 2020). "Abbott beats revenue projections as sales outperform previous year". Milwaukee Business Journal.
  7. "Abbott CEO Miles D White To Step Down In 2020, Robert B Ford To Take Over". Medical Dialogues. December 15, 2019.
  8. "Incoming Abbott CEO says not looking to do any deals". Reuters. January 22, 2020.
  9. Japsen, Bruce (February 5, 2021). "Abbott Profits Rise As Covid-19 Diagnostic Sales Eclipse 400 Million Tests". Forbes.
  10. Hauck, Grace (March 28, 2020). "'A game changer': FDA authorizes Abbott Labs' portable, 5-minute coronavirus test the size of a toaster". USA TODAY. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  11. Cortez, Michelle Fay (February 5, 2021). "Abbott Went All In on Covid Tests, And It's Just Getting Started". Bloomberg News. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  12. Kuehner-Hebert, Katie (April 2, 2020). "CEO of the Week: Abbott Laboratories CEO Robert B. Ford". Chief Executive. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  13. Sean Wooley (December 13, 2021). "Abbott's Miles White retires as executive chairperson". Mass Device1.