Elizabeth Holmes
Elizabeth Holmes, American entrepreneur, was born February 3, 1984, Washington, D.C. She was the founder and CEO (2003-18), of Theranos Inc., a medical diagnostic company. She was named the world's youngest selfmade woman billionaire in 2014, but her net worth estimates had dropped dramatically by June 2016 due to serious questions about Theranos's business practices, and her 50% stake in the company. In 2018, Holmes was forced from Theranos and was later convicted of defrauding investors.
Holmes, who is the daughter of a U.S. Government Aid worker and a congressional staffer, was raised in Washington, D.C. and Houston, Texas. She also spent high school in China. She started a company selling computer software to Asian universities while she was there. Holmes returned to the U.S. and pursued a degree as an electrical and chemical engineer at Stanford University.
Holmes worked at the Genome Institute of Singapore during a summer vacation from Stanford to develop a computer chip that could detect the presence of SARS virus. Holmes became interested in medical devices that were more efficient than traditional diagnostic testing or therapeutic assessment. Holmes returned to Stanford and patented a device that attaches to the body of the patient to measure the effectiveness of medication. This was done by comparing chemical markers from a diseased area with the therapeutic agent.
She graduated from Stanford in her sophomore year and founded Theranos. The company was devoted to the development of minimally invasive laboratory tests services. In 2003, she became the founder and then the CEO. Theranos' first offering was in 2014. It featured a laboratory test process that could run over 1,000 medical tests on an individual with just a few drops blood. This technology is capable of revolutionizing medical data collection.
Theranos claimed that it was improving laboratory blood testing and collection by automating and miniaturizing the process. Traditional blood testing required that 5-10ml (0.17-3.44 fluid ounces) of blood be drawn through a large needle. One tube was then filled for each test. This process was painful for patients, costly for insurance companies, and experts worried about the possibility that patients with genuine fears of needles, young patients, or elderly patients, might not be able to get their blood work done on time. The key tool physicians used to make informed decisions regarding patient care was laboratory data. Theranos, however, claimed that a much smaller sample (a few drops from a pinprick on a finger) was enough to provide the raw material to the company's diagnostic tests. The procedure was also less painful and more expensive than traditional testing.
Holmes developed Theranos' proprietary processes and secured funding from investors between 2003 and 2014. Theranos was announced by Walgreen Co. in 2013, which had more than 8,000 U.S. drugstores, to partner with Theranos for the establishment of wellness centers within its Walgreens pharmacies. Theranos provided over 200 diagnostic tests by 2014 and was licensed to operate within almost all 50 U.S. States. It also held a certification from the U.S. Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS), which is the federal regulator that oversees medical laboratories.
Late 2015, Theranos's proprietary technologies, including its primary medical testing device, Edison, were the subject of controversy. Reporters from The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post argued that Theranos exaggerated Edison's competence and noted that only a small percentage of company tests were being performed with the medical device, contrary to Holmes's claims. Theranos's secretive business practices soon led to other questions. These included Theranos's decision not to release primary testing data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and compliance issues at the Newark, California laboratory. Theranos was also scrutinized for its delays in providing federal authorities full access its medical devices, and subjecting its technologies and devices to scientific peer review.
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