About us

Our History

A GROWING COMPANY 

Sonic Healthcare Limited is the parent company of the 32 operating companies comprising the Sonic Healthcare group.  It is a public company, listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, where it is classified as one of Australia's "Top 100" companies.  Sonic Healthcare has its head office at Macquarie Park in Sydney, Australia, in the same building as the main Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology laboratory.

  

 

The growth of Sonic Healthcare - an outstanding achievement 

The growth of Sonic Healthcare over the last 10 years has been remarkable.  It has been achieved through a combination of carefully chosen acquisitions and strong organic growth and its success is undoubtedly the result of the hard work and consistent delivery of excellent services by our staff.

 

On the financial side, Sonic Healthcare is considered to be one of the best Australian sharemarket performers of recent years.  As a result we enjoy a reputation in the financial sector as a growth company that has delivered value to its shareholders.

 

In the medical arena, our success is ultimately based on the fact that Sonic Healthcare companies are recognised as quality diagnostic practices that have remained true to the ethical principles of the medical profession.

  

 

A more complete diagnostics company in a wider field of operation 

We have always been a company dedicated to medical diagnostic services.  For most of our history we have operated predominantly in the field of pathology but in recent years we have joined with radiology practices to become a more complete medical diagnostic company.  We began in one region of Australia (New South Wales) but our practices now operate in all Australian states and territories, the North and South Islands of New Zealand, the United Kingdom, USA, Germany and Switzerland.

 

The future holds great promise for our company.

TIMELINE - A BRIEF HISTORY OF SONIC HEALTHCARE 

1987

  • Sonic Healthcare is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. At this time the name of the company is "Sonic Technology Australia Limited".
  • Sonic acquires its first pathology practice, the Sydney-based Douglass Laboratories.
  

 

1991

  • Douglass Laboratories establishes a small pathology branch in Adelaide, South Australia.
 

 

1992

  • Sonic acquires the Adelaide pathology practice Clinpath Laboratories.
  • The South Australian Douglass Laboratories branch merges with Clinpath.
  • The new management team implements major changes in operations and systems management, with a commitment to an open, consultative approach.
 

 

1993

  •  New major shareholders reconstitute the board and Dr Colin Goldschmidt is appointed Managing Director for the group.

 

1994 

  • Sonic Healthcare (through Douglass Laboratories) acquires Tan Pathology, a Sydney practice, which is folded into Douglass Laboratories.
 

 

1995

  • Sonic Healthcare (through Clinpath) acquires the Adelaide practice Pathlab, which becomes part of Clinpath Laboratories.
 

 

1996

  • The company name formally changes from Sonic Technology, to Sonic Healthcare Limited.
  • Sonic Healthcare acquires NSW based companies Hanly Moir Pathology and Barratt and Smith Pathologists, and the Canberra based Barratt Smith Moran Pathology.
  • Douglass Laboratories merges operations with Hanly Moir Pathology to form Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology, which operates from the Douglass Laboratories site.
  • Barratt and Smith and Barratt Smith Moran continue to operate as separate entities.
  • Sonic Clinical Trials begins operating from the Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology site at North Ryde.
  • Sonic Healthcare is now Australia's largest pathology group.
 

 

1997 

  • Barratt Smith Moran Pathology changes its name to Capital Pathology.
  • Sonic Healthcare acquires Lifescreen Australia, which becomes based at North Ryde.
 

 

  

1999 

  • Sonic Healthcare acquires two pathology operations from Alpha Healthcare - Australian Diagnostics Laboratories (ADL) in Sydney and Southern Pathology, on the south coast of NSW. ADL is folded into Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology. Southern Pathology continues to operate as a separate entity.
  • Sonic Healthcare acquires the SGS group of practices, creating the largest diagnostic group in Australasia. Sonic has now expanded its presence into several new Australian markets (Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania) and, for the first time, is a major presence in New Zealand. The acquisition also heralds Sonic Healthcare’s initial venture into radiology.
  • The new practices are Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology (Queensland), Northern Pathology (Queensland), Melbourne Pathology (Victoria), Diagnostic Services (Tasmania), Diagnostic Medical Laboratories (New Zealand), Medlab Central (New Zealand), Medlab South (New Zealand), Valley Diagnostic Laboratories (New Zealand) and the New Zealand Radiology Group.
 

 

2000 

  • Sonic Healthcare acquires Hitech Pathology (Victoria). It merges with Melbourne Pathology.
  • Sonic Healthcare acquires Castlereagh Imaging (New South Wales), Castlereagh Imaging Hong Kong (HK), Hunter Imaging Group (New South Wales), Illawarra Radiology Group (New South Wales), Canterbury Medical Imaging (New Zealand) and Palmerston North X-Ray (New Zealand).
 

 

2001 

  • Sonic Healthcare acquires Consultant Pathologists (Queensland).
  • Sonic Healthcare acquires Queensland X-Ray Group, the largest private radiology practice in Australia.
  • Sonic Healthcare acquires Illawarra Medical Laboratories (New South Wales), which joins its operations with Southern Pathology. The practice is now known as Southern.IML Pathology.
  • Sonic Healthcare acquires Clinipath Pathology (Western Australia), La Trobe Pathology (Victoria) and Bunbury Pathology (Western Australia) from Foundation Healthcare.
  • Sonic Healthcare (through Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology) acquires Cairns Pathology Laboratory (Queensland).
  • Sonic Healthcare acquires SKG Radiology, Western Australia's largest private radiology practice.
 

 

2002

  • The Doctors Laboratory (TDL), Britain's largest private pathology practice, is acquired.
  • Sonic Healthcare (through Sullivan Nicolaides) acquires the practice of Dr Tom Lynch in Rockhampton (Queensland).
 

 

2003

  • Sonic Healthcare (through Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology) acquires the NSW Central Coast Pathology practice of Dr Richard Haskell.
  • Sonic Healthcare acquires Omnilabs Pathology (London) and mergers it into The Doctors Laboratory.
  • Sonic Healthcare acquires the Southside Diagnostic Services Group (SDSG) in Queensland.
 

 

2004

  • The Doctors Laboratory forms a ground breaking partnership with the National Health Service hospital; University College of London Hospital (UCLH).
  • Sonic Healthcare acquires majority (55.9%) ownership of the Schottdorf Group, one of the largest pathology businesses in Germany.
  • Sonic Healthcare moves to majority (72.2%) ownership of Independent Practitioner Network Limited (IPN).
  • Sonic Healthcare acquires the pathology operations of Endeavour HealthCare in NSW and WA and merges them into Sonic's existing operations (Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology and Clinipath Pathology). In addition IPN acquires Endeavour's medical centre operations.

 

2005

  • Sonic Healthcare acquires an 82% interest in Clinical Pathology Laboratories, Inc., the largest privately owned routine pathology laboratory in the United States of America.
 

2006

  • April - Sonic Healthcare acquires Central Queensland Pathology Laboratory (Mackay, Queensland).  
  • April - Sonic Healthcare acquires Muskogee Clinical Laboratory (Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA).
  • September - Sonic Healthcare acquires The Cognoscenti Health Institute (East Orlando, Florida, USA).
  • December - Sonic Healthcare acquires Lookadoo Skyline Laboratories (Port St Lucie, Florida, USA).

 

2007

  • January - Sonic Healthcare acquires American Esoteric Laboratories Inc. (AEL), with laboratories in Tennessee and Texas.
  • January - Sonic Healthcare acquires remaining 18% of Clinical Pathology Laboratories (CPL) in USA.
  • March - Sonic Healthcare acquires LifeCheck (Sydney, NSW), which is folded into the Lifescreen business.
  • April - Sonic Healthcare acquires Mullins Pathology & Cytology Laboratory P.C. (Augusta, Georgia, USA).
  • May - Sonic Healthcare acquires Medica Laboratory Group (Zurich, Switzerland), an organisation well-established in the Swiss market and led by founder and CEO Dr Franz Kaeppeli.
  • August - Sunrise Medical Laboratories, Inc is acquired.  This is a full-service clinical reference laboratory servicing Long Island and the New York metropolitan area led by CEO Larry Siedlick and President Pat Lanza.
  • September - Sonic Healthcare acquires the Bioscientia Healthcare Group based in Ingelheim, Germany.  It is one of Europe’s largest and most respected laboratories.
  • October - Sonic Healthcare acquires Woodbury Clinical Laboratory, based in Lebanon, Tennessee (near Nashville).
  • December - Sonic completes acquisition of the remaining equity in German laboratory business, the Schottdorf Group.

     

2008

  • January - Sonic Healthcare acquires American Clinical Services, Inc, based in New Jersey, USA.
  • July - Sonic Healthcare acquires Labor 28 in Berlin, Gremany.