From missiles to medics: Inside Aspen Medical

A moment of clarity saw Glenn Keys go from working at a defence company to building a multi-million dollar healthcare business, Aspen Medical, that would save thousands of lives in war zones, deadly pandemics, and other challenging situations around the world.  

As a flight test engineer for the Australian Army, putting fighter jets through their paces at over 1,500 kilometres per hour, Glenn Keys knew he was having a brilliant career. 

“You were either testing the limits on where the aircraft could operate or trying to find a problem causing significant issues. I loved it,” says Keys. 

Exhilarating as it was, he didn’t realise the Army was preparing him for a different future entirely – one in which he would lead a company providing life-saving medical care in some of the most challenging situations in the world.  

Think warzones, pandemics, and other dangerous places – more than two decades on, Keys’ multi-million dollar company, Aspen Medical, is the world leader in providing healthcare solutions in any setting, anywhere in the world – even when no one else can or will. 

“What I learned across the military really did set me up for civilian life in a role where I was trying to identify problems, design solutions and provide the logistics support that goes behind those to make it work,” says Keys. 

After leaving the army, he proved his business acumen, leading an aerospace startup from a standing start to 80 people across three countries in four years. But it wasn’t until a major US defence contractor bought the firm that he had a moment of clarity that would cause him to pivot his life 180 degrees. 

“My wife and I were watching news coverage of the first Iraq war on TV,” he recalls. “They were running through a list of the missiles that would be used, and I noticed that a large percentage of them were made by the company I was working for. Mel turned and looked at me and asked, ‘How do you feel about this?’” 

Built on purpose

He didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do at that stage, only that he wanted to start a commercial company doing “something with more purpose.” Soon after, on a UK holiday with his wife Amelda, he met with a doctor friend for a last-minute coffee near Heathrow airport before flying home. 

“He highlighted that the then UK prime minister, Tony Blair, was about to revolutionise healthcare in England by dramatically reducing waiting lists. My friend, a surgeon in the NHS (National Health Service), said there was an opportunity for an innovative company that could do things differently.” 

Returning home to Australia, Keys had another important conversation, this time with an old schoolmate who had also worked in the army before becoming a doctor and medical entrepreneur. They decided to join forces to create Aspen Medical. The Canberra-based company’s first contract was to deliver a plan to reduce NHS waiting lists.  After that, the NHS asked Aspen Medical to implement its suggested solutions. 

Where others fear to tread

The logistics skills Keys had acquired from 15 years in the Army came to the fore when Aspen Medical won a tender to deliver the healthcare for the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, an Australian-led coalition sent to stabilise the country. Aspen Medical had just eight weeks to set up a ten-bed ward to care for the personnel deployed there.  

“No one in the world had ever done this before for a defence force,” says Keys. “No one had deployed a full hospital into a combat zone before. To be the first to do it, and to have to do it in eight weeks, was a real challenge.” 

Fortunately, Keys thrives on challenge. Aspen Medical would go on to set up similar operations in scores of locations worldwide, saving thousands of lives, both military and civilian. About 50% of senior management at Aspen Medical are ex-military, people who are familiar with the experience of conflict zones and other challenging situations.   

In some cases, the company has gone where no one else would go. During the war to liberate West Mosul, in Iraq, from ISIS, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN) put the call out to the international community to staff a maternity ward and trauma hospital they had established in the area to treat civilians. The callout came in the wake of an incident in Afghanistan where ISIS gunmen dressed as medics ran into a military hospital in Kabul, killing more than 30 people and wounding another 50.  

“The response from NGOs was that they were maxed out with commitments elsewhere or couldn’t guarantee the security of their staff so close to the front line. We had people there within two weeks. We treated 48,000 civilians, ran the only chemical weapons medical treatment facility in the whole of Northern Iraq, and delivered over 3,000 babies.” 

Eradicating disease

Aspen Medical now has thousands of staff around the world. It has provided healthcare solutions to governments, defence forces and humanitarian organisations in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the UK and the US. During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Aspen Medical ran seven hospitals across Liberia and Sierra Leone. Back home during COVID, it was one of the biggest healthcare suppliers to the Australian government, with contracts including Indigenous health projects and COVID quarantine during the pandemic. It is also one of the biggest companies in Australia to be registered as a B Corp (Certified B Corporation), a certification that businesses meet high social and environmental performance standards.  

Still, there was more Keys wanted to achieve. And he realised he couldn’t do it all within the context of a commercial organisation. He and his wife established the Aspen Medical Foundation, which receives a percentage of the company’s profits and partners with charities and corporations to address underfunded health issues. 

“No one had deployed a full hospital into a combat zone before. To be the first to do it, and to have to do it in eight weeks, was a real challenge.” 

Glenn Keys

Major achievements include eliminating scabies in First Nations communities through a partnership with charity One Disease at a Time, and reducing the incidence of trachoma  from 15% to nearly 4% through work with a range of charities. The Foundation also provides scholarships for First Nations people to become health professionals. In Ukraine, it’s partnering with the Alcoa Foundation to provide prosthetics and prosthetics training after more than 50,000 people suffered amputations during the war. 

A project Keys started for very personal reasons is Project Independence. Inspired by his son Ehren, who has Down Syndrome, he created a social enterprise that helps people with an intellectual disability purchase their homes. Keys was named ACT Australian of the Year in 2015 and received an Order of Australia in 2017 for philanthropic leadership and advocating for people with an intellectual disability. 

“I can pinch myself when I think how much we’ve delivered,” says Keys, taking stock in the wake of Aspen Medical’s 21^st anniversary, but he adds it’s all down to the commitment of the company’s people.  

“You can sit there with all the vision you like, but if you don’t have incredible people who will stand up at 24-hours notice to treat refugees coming out of Kabul, or go into Africa to treat Ebola, all this is just a pipe dream.” 

As to what drives Keys to keep going to work every day after all he has achieved, he admits to being “pretty competitive”. 

“I like to win by delivering the great work that other people think is impossible. Nothing gets me out of bed like someone saying ‘no’.”