Peter Ford
Encyclopedia
Peter S. Ford is an Australian CEO, author and former journalist.
He was a television news anchor in the 1980s and 1990s in Australia and the USA, and was known in Australia
for working at the Seven Network
as an anchor for Seven News
. He was also the first co-anchor of Sunrise
which he presented with Chris Bath
. He also has co-anchored Seven's short lived News At Five with Naomi Robson
.
In 1981, he joined CNN in Atlanta as a news anchor and reporter and was a founding anchor at CNN's Headline News service. In 1984 he became the 6pm and 11pm news anchor at NBC's affiliate in Miami, FL, and in 1988 he joined NBC's WRC-TV
in Washington DC as a news anchor.
He covered national news, specializing in technology, medicine and military affairs, providing live coverage on Space Shuttle missions at Kennedy Space Center, and reporting live from the White House and the Pentagon on military and foreign policy. As a foreign correspondent for NBC and its affiliates he reported live from Moscow, The Vatican, the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, the Sydney Olympics, and from Islamabad and from Tora Bora and Jalalabad, Afghanistan immediately after 9/11.
In 2000 Simon & Schuster, New York, published his first novel, "The Keeper of Dreams", set in Australia and the USA.
In 1982, while at CNN, he became a computer programmer/analyst on the first team to develop microcomputers for rehabilitation and communications for people with disabilities at the VAMC Rehabilitation R&D Laboratory in Atlanta, one of the first of its kind in the world. Working with Principal Investigator Gary Wynn Kelly, he wrote JoyWriter 2, an Apple-based program that enabled people with neuromuscular disease and spinal injuries to replace a computer keyboard with a joystick controller.
He is the founder and CEO of Control Bionics, a neural systems technology company, and the inventor of NeuroSwitch, an EMG (electromyograph) based communications and control system for people with profound disabilities including Locked in Syndrome
. NeuroSwitch enables a person with quadriplegia and loss of speech to control a computer, communicate with text and text-to-speech (TTS) and control environmental systems, television and personal media, internet access, emails and SMS (mobile texting).
He was a television news anchor in the 1980s and 1990s in Australia and the USA, and was known in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
for working at the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
as an anchor for Seven News
Seven News
Seven News is the television news service of the Seven Network in Australia.National bulletins are presented from Seven's high-definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while flagship 6pm bulletins are produced in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. The network also produces Seven...
. He was also the first co-anchor of Sunrise
Sunrise (TV program)
Sunrise is an Australian breakfast television program, broadcast on the Seven Network. On weekdays the programme follows Seven Early News, and runs from 6am through to 9am.-History:...
which he presented with Chris Bath
Chris Bath
Christine "Chris" Bath is an Australian journalist and television personality. She is currently the weeknight presenter of Seven News Sydney and presenter of Seven's current affairs program Sunday Night....
. He also has co-anchored Seven's short lived News At Five with Naomi Robson
Naomi Robson
Naomi Robson is an Australian television presenter who is best known as the former presenter of the east coast edition of Today Tonight, an Australian current affairs program which is broadcast on weeknights on the Seven Network, from 1997 to 2006...
.
In 1981, he joined CNN in Atlanta as a news anchor and reporter and was a founding anchor at CNN's Headline News service. In 1984 he became the 6pm and 11pm news anchor at NBC's affiliate in Miami, FL, and in 1988 he joined NBC's WRC-TV
WRC-TV
WRC-TV, channel 4, is an owned and operated television station of the NBC television network, located in the American capital city of Washington, D.C...
in Washington DC as a news anchor.
He covered national news, specializing in technology, medicine and military affairs, providing live coverage on Space Shuttle missions at Kennedy Space Center, and reporting live from the White House and the Pentagon on military and foreign policy. As a foreign correspondent for NBC and its affiliates he reported live from Moscow, The Vatican, the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, the Sydney Olympics, and from Islamabad and from Tora Bora and Jalalabad, Afghanistan immediately after 9/11.
In 2000 Simon & Schuster, New York, published his first novel, "The Keeper of Dreams", set in Australia and the USA.
In 1982, while at CNN, he became a computer programmer/analyst on the first team to develop microcomputers for rehabilitation and communications for people with disabilities at the VAMC Rehabilitation R&D Laboratory in Atlanta, one of the first of its kind in the world. Working with Principal Investigator Gary Wynn Kelly, he wrote JoyWriter 2, an Apple-based program that enabled people with neuromuscular disease and spinal injuries to replace a computer keyboard with a joystick controller.
He is the founder and CEO of Control Bionics, a neural systems technology company, and the inventor of NeuroSwitch, an EMG (electromyograph) based communications and control system for people with profound disabilities including Locked in Syndrome
Locked-In syndrome
Locked-in syndrome is a condition in which a patient is aware and awake but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for the eyes. Total locked-in syndrome is a version of locked-in syndrome where the eyes are paralyzed as...
. NeuroSwitch enables a person with quadriplegia and loss of speech to control a computer, communicate with text and text-to-speech (TTS) and control environmental systems, television and personal media, internet access, emails and SMS (mobile texting).