Churchill Global Benefactor Award
September 24, 2015, Churchill Club Awards, Redwood City, CA—The Churchill Club awarded Elizabeth Holmes as 2015 global benefactor for irrepressible vision and positive impact on society. In a fireside chat with Channing Robertson from Stanford she described her motivations and inspirations for her work.
Robertson noted that she was a very assertive student, even as a freshman in ’02. She insisted on getting into his sophomore symposium and then took over the lab. She had vision and an idea of the future for technology. Then she insisted on going to a Chinese institute, where they only spoke in Mandarin, for a year of field study and managed to develop the main workings for a patent.
Holmes believes that she has a legacy of building products and had to make a difference in the world. She started Theranos to change the world, because all people have a basic right to health information and open ( not MD prescribed) lab tests. She wanted to redefine diagnostics and make them available to everyone. The basic idea is to use technology to check for early onset indicators.
Robertson asked about family or personal background as a driver. Did you have a vision on how to apply diagnostics that differed fro everyone else?
Holmes noted that it is possible to detect many disease precursors. The difference in people requires individual engagement in the care. We need to have more open access and consumer input to drive costs and accessibility. The users need to have access to better tests, so someone has to build an ecosystem to get more involvement from the users. Greater transparency and competitive pricing are critical to changing the medical systems. There is a lot of room to redefine the user experience.
Robertson noted that their technology reduced the sample size for a blood test to is single drop. This reduction in sample size reduces costs and changes the underlying technologies. What is the impact?
Holmes responded that a part of the new user experience is the costs. The increased affordability, about $2 per test, opens more medicine to low-income people. The states are starting to acknowledge this is a good idea. Arizona just passed a law that allows people to order their own lab tests, which increases patient engagement and moves more people to a preventative versus reactive care paradigm. For example, the less invasive blood testing changes the user experience. A cancer patient said that it reduces the stress of an already highly stressful existence by making the testing more convenient and less painful.
Another patient, a disabled person with no fingers, found a blood draw was very difficult and invasive. They had to find a vein in his neck. With the newer technology and smaller sample size, they could draw blood from a stub on his elbow.
Robertson acknowledged that he is happy to be a part of her company. She shares testimonials from patients with everyone in the company. Her impact goes beyond just making medicine easier for patients, but is also a role model for girls and women in showing a woman can be caring, bright, run a company, and be successful.
Holmes agreed that we are in incredible times. The stereotype of women in the STEM areas is changing, which opens many new areas of the world to girls. It is good to be a proof point of a woman who is successful, because it changes the perceptions with new role models and leaders. We have to make more of this aspect in our culture. Other people have been an inspiration to me, and it is good to be able to be an example for others. I had to start a business with the purpose of creating great products that improve peoples’ lives. To know that you have made a difference is rewarding.
