{"id":11673,"date":"2022-03-02T10:47:20","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T09:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1594204"},"modified":"2022-03-02T10:47:20","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T09:47:20","slug":"the-dropout-true-story-elizabeth-holmes-scandal-explained","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/the-dropout-true-story-elizabeth-holmes-scandal-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dropout true story: Elizabeth Holmes scandal explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By David Craig\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 02 March 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The implosion of health technology company Theranos and the subsequent fraud conviction of its former CEO Elizabeth Holmes is one of the most shocking stories to ever come out of Silicon Valley (and that\u2019s saying something).\u00a0Following in the footsteps of an ABC News podcast and an HBO documentary comes The Dropout<\/a> on Disney Plus, which dramatises the unbelievable tale and places Oscar nominee Amanda Seyfried in the central role.<\/p>\n

The saga begins in 2002 when Holmes began a chemical engineering degree at California\u2019s prestigious Stanford University, where she soon began dreaming up ideas for radical new inventions. The first was a patch that would attach to an individual\u2019s skin and routinely scan the body for infections, automatically administering antibiotics whenever necessary. An interesting idea in theory but physically impossible to execute, Holmes was informed by Professor of Medicine Dr Phyllis Gardner, but she seemingly disregarded the academic\u2019s expertise as an underestimation of her ability.<\/p>\n

Holmes dropped out of Stanford before her sophomore year to focus on her new business Theranos, which would be based around a similarly ambitious and potentially revolutionary piece of technology. She used the remainder of her tuition money to fund research into a device that would require just a single drop of blood to perform dozens of health tests, including those that identify serious conditions such as cancer and diabetes.<\/p>

Promising fast, accessible and affordable blood testing in a country with an infamously high cost of healthcare, it\u2019s not surprising that her invention \u2013 the Edison \u2013 had so much interest from investors. Meanwhile, the powerful narrative that Holmes spun alongside her pitch would soon have the world\u2019s media fawning, with particular attention being paid to her public image as a young woman dominating in business, while sporting a similar style to that of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see a world in which no one ever has to say, \u2018If only I\u2019d known sooner\u2019. A world in which no one ever has to say goodbye too soon,\u201d said Holmes at TEDMED 2014<\/a>. Unfortunately, this almost utopian promise was never anywhere close to becoming reality because the Edison machine simply didn\u2019t work as advertised.<\/p>\n

In 2015, the Wall Street Journal<\/a> began a damning investigation into Theranos led by reporter John Carreyrou, which kick-started the chain of events that would bring the entire company down. A number of departed employees felt uncomfortable about Theranos practices, but most had been reluctant to come forward due to the threat of legal action from the $9 billion company. An unexpected whistleblower who became instrumental to Carreyrou\u2019s report was ex-Theranos research engineer Tyler Shultz \u2013 grandson of American businessman and former Secretary of State George Shultz, who at the time was one of the strongest advocates of Holmes and her company.<\/p>\n