Bc he was thinking with his johnson and not his brain. In 2002, he met Elizabeth Holmes during her freshman year in college. I believe wholeheartedly he knew and understood based off her patents schematics it wasnt possible. I gave her her first million bucks to get the business going, Mr. Draper says. Her board of advisers, despite their impressive names, have had . Lawyer: J. Channing Bennett: Phone: 971-239-0543, 503-581-1501: Fax: 503-581-5891: Lawyer Title: Partner: . Im assuming then he saw the schematics. Former Theranos employee Erika Cheung is seen here during an ABC News interview. "He oversaw the lab operations from a business perspective," Coppersmith said. Presently, Robertson works as an emeritus professor at Stanford and recently taught a course about Busting Energy Myths at the prestigious college. How would you go about predicting what the emissions from that must have been when it's been covered up for 12 years? There's Channing Robertson, the Stanford chemical engineering professor who joined the Theranos board when Holmes dropped out of college. ", Shultz: "Yeah. She is not accustomed to failure, and from the beginning, had family connections, powerful mentors and true believers all working to ensure that her mission would succeed. Ya, 500k a year for little to no work would be hard for anyone to say no to. And he says, 'Well, that's exactly what's happening.'". "Not a lot of camaraderie, a lot paranoia," is how Maxwell described the vibe in the Theranos offices, with Vollmer explaining she kept the departments separate, so on one was communicating (aka figuring out what was going on). WhenHolmes was a freshman, she proposed her idea to Dr. Gardner, who quickly told her it was just not possible. Ms. Holmes insisted that she was the one being choosy. In 2017, Robertson was delegated as co-head of Theranos' lead innovation advisory body. SEC attorney: "How many tests could it run at that time in 2010? ", "They were their one customer," he said. Nine days after Coopersmith's interview with ABC News, his office emailed us a transcript from a deposition with Shultz, from an investor lawsuit filed against Theranos. ", Holmes: "I am not aware that they were very focused on what hardware that we were using. A digital drop gauge, which checks the dimensions of machined parts, at a Theranos lab. Robertson was one of the stars of the Stanford faculty. Their conclusions were disturbing. ENERGY 30N: Busting Energy Myths. "I think there are people who are the Mozarts and the Beethovens and the Newtons, the Lavoisiers and the Einsteins and the da Vincis, who come along rarely in a generational sense," he said. "He was born in Pakistan to a Hindu family, and eventually the family had to move to India because being a Hindu in a mostly all-Muslim country of Pakistan was very difficult. "And I think, if we're successful, we have the opportunity to change health care delivery as we know it. Only one of these techniques, DNA analysis, is based on a solid scientific foundation, they decided. Do you understand that "WAG" is Walgreens? According to lawyer Reed Kathrein, who sued Theranos on behalf of some of its former investors, the company only paid Robertson to lend itself credibility.[8]. Being a yt woman will literally get you anywhere. That article had played a big role in legitimizing Holmes and Theranos. Yes he was later paid a lot of money, but he was brainwashed before he sent EH to talk to Phyllis Gardner, long before he was paid anything in the early days. Institutions whose names were often linked with Theranos, like the Cleveland Clinic, insist they have not yet had a chance to use the technology. Robertson remembers, "and I said, 'That's probably not a good idea. ", Holmes replied, "We did not tell them that the FDA had come to inspect because we thought we were to try to successfully resolve the engagement with FDA before communicating about it.". Coopersmith also responded to the scathing 2016 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services report that eventually led federal regulators to shut down the Theranos lab. Theranos had never told the drugstore giant about the surprise FDA inspection on its labs. More accurate would be to understand that Channing Robertson's steadfast endorsement and support of Theranos technology was also highly lucrative for him. ", "Students," he adds, "just love that kind of forensic mystery.". But now she admits she is frustrated about how to handle the media fascination they seem to have created. Robertson was one of the stars of the Stanford faculty. Early on, Ms. Holmes courted pharmaceutical manufacturers, where the Theranos technology would allow companies to conduct clinical trials at lower costs. Ciresi was lead council for the State of Minnesota and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota in a suit against the major cigarette manufacturers. Watching The Dropout and seeing it on screen made me wonder how that man sleeps at night. By May 2016, things were not looking good for Elizabeth Holmes. Mr. Balwani is innocent, and looks forward to clearing his name at trial.". Stephan Gibbs. United States. Tevanian is one of the co-founders of NextEquity Partners, and serves as its managing editor. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. ", Attorney: "So you lied to Dr. Young when he asked you that question?". ), "Don't contact me about Theranos, just go read Carreyrou's book," his Linkedin reads. Hulu/Courtesy Nicky Endres - Ana . When cases did go to court, the awards against Robins rarely exceeded a few thousand dollars. She talks about publishing the companys internal data, and the company has plans to hold a session with outside experts even sooner to try to convince the doubters. We can show you the programs weve done, she said in the interview. SEC attorney: "Was a Theranos-manufactured device ever deployed in the battlefield? Moreover, she wanted to deflect attention from what she might be wearing. ", Holmes: "My understanding is David reached out to him. Ms. Holmes also insists that her employees do not hesitate to tell her when something cant be done, but that she looks for people who share her sense of dedication. The lawyer who first put Robertson in a witness box, Stanford alum Anthony Klein, was representing women injured by a contraceptive product called the Dalkon Shield, an intrauterine device (IUD). -. Vote. ", When asked if Balwani felt duped by Holmes, Coopersmith adamantly said, "No. When Balwani joined Theranos in 2009 as the COO and president, he oversaw the lab operations despite not having a background in laboratory science. We know how to do this very well, she said. Another claim Holmes had made was that her signature technology could run any blood test -- there are hundreds of possible tests. That in turn provoked the record $206 billion Master National Settlement between the states and the tobacco industry brokered later that year - the largest legal settlement in U.S. history. "I think we're on the right side of history. Holmes settled with the SEC. He also entered a plea of not guilty to the nine charges, and has maintained his innocence. Bad Blood Runs in the Family. And then there is Theranos, the biomed startup founded in 2003 by Robertson's student Elizabeth Holmes when she was still an undergraduate and where he's now an active director. "If you add ammonia, you raise the pH and 'uncharge' the molecule. "Mr. Balwani believed in Elizabeth Holmes and her vision for the company. Criminal charges from the Department of Justice followed a few months later -- June 15. The company hired top designers from places like Apple. Channing Rex Robertson is an American professor best-known for serving as a board member on the now-defunct biotech company known as Theranos, founded by Robertsons student, Elizabeth Holmes. The suit - one of the first in which a state, rather than an individual, had taken on the industry - was bitterly fought. He was the ORIGINAL brainwashed old white guy, and stopped thinking for himself. "She compensated him very, very well," Kathrein said. That is a remarkable valuation for a start-up, but it might be justifiable if Theranos executes on Ms. Holmess vision: to harness engineering technology to make laboratory testing radically cheaper and easier than tests from established behemoths like Quest Diagnostics and the Laboratory Corporation of America. And he [Balwani] says, 'We can't scale with WAG' and WAG you understand is Walgreens? "We're setting up labs, making them clean it up a little at a time," Robertson reports. He then contacted people he knew, like Henry Kissinger and Dr. Frist. "He did not defraud Theranos investors, who were among the most sophisticated in the world. channing robertson reputation. The rest, Robertson says, "are essentially empirical and based on individual judgment.". According to Coopersmith, Balwani believed the technology worked because "his scientific team was telling him it worked," but many former employees told ABC News that the scientists were some of the employees afraid of him. Robertson served as the Professor of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. 2023 E! This is episode 5 of "The Dropout," a six-episode ABC Radio podcast about the fall of Elizabeth Holmes' startup, Theranos. In one instance, during an all-hands meeting, former employees claimed Balwani said employees should be prepared to show "complete devotion" and unmitigated loyalty or "get the ---- out. But the Theranos equipment was heavier than the hand-held device the Defense Department was already using for some tests, and the Theranos tests still needed F.D.A. "There was no secret that Theranos was doing traditional blood testing.". A sink where solvents are used to clean parts after machining. She is now trying to take back control of the Theranos story. ", By October 2015, Holmes and Theranos were doing damage control, trying to salvage the deal with their only client, Walgreens, as well as the reputation of the company. Theranos sought to revolutionize the medical diagnostics world by greatly increasing efficiency in laboratory testing, until it all came crashing down. It was her advisor and dean at the School of Engineering, Channing Robertson, who first supported her vision of a less bloody medical future. Ms. Holmes argues that the companys focus over time simply shifted away from the pharmaceutical industry, but it was able to successfully use its technology. Klein asked Robertson to provide expert testimony in his case. Ms. Holmes convinced her parents that her tuition money was better spent on starting a company. In that role, he said, you have to take the arrows.. Robertson was one of the stars of the Stanford faculty. The company devoted significant resources to the Ebola effort. In so many instances during Holmes' deposition, there seemed to be no distinction between aspiration and reality. Sweet Hall 2nd Floor 590 Escondido Mall Mail Code: 3068 Stanford, CA 94305 In fact, in the fall of 2003, Elizabeth Holmes laid a patent application in front of Mr. Robertson. She had every pharmaceutical company eating out of her hand, one former employee said. Holmes and her counsel did not respond to ABC News' repeated requests for comment. Walgreens didn't officially terminate its relationship with Theranos until about eight months later, but within two weeks after Carreyrou's first article was published in 2015, Walgreens halted the expansion of its Theranos Wellness Centers. He was the most hard working person pretty much I've ever met.". Mr. Lucas, who wasnt available for an interview, served as chairman of the Theranos board for a time and brought in Lawrence Ellison, the founder and chief executive of Oracle, as another investor. He's also leading a hiking trip for the Alumni Association to Spain next summer. She had come up with an idea for a drug-delivery system that would be able to detect drug levels in the blood and wirelessly transmit those results. Self: The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley. SEC attorney: "Were you aware that this article was included in Mr. Murdoch's binder [of materials Theranos sent to potential investors]? Don't you think that Walgreens would have wanted to know what device you were using to process these samples? But he said Robertson's only role was to add credibility to the company. Richard Fuisz is reportedly a former family friend of Elizabeth Holmes who knew her since childhood, but they've since had a big falling out. The company tried to convince . "I can go back into the classroom," he says, using the example of an environmental case he worked on, "and say, 'Imagine someone puts 37 million gallons of toxic waste into a hole in the ground. Although he was already wealthy, $500k where he lives, even if over the years amounted to a few millions is not life changing. But pretty blonde girl got the blood flowing flowing away from the brain so anything she pitched would be workable. SEC attorney: "But if some of the results came back incorrect, how did you know that the results that he did report were correct? Investors and patients also were bringing their own class-action lawsuits. [3] He retired from Stanford in 2012 to join the Theranos board of directors, becoming an emeritus professor. Graphic for the "Nightline" feature, "The Dropout. Her board was populated with former diplomats and leaders of the Senate. To me, Robertson has some culpability in Ian Gibbons' suicide. She energetically turned her attention to venture capital firms dozens of which took a look, and in early fund rounds the company was turned down by some of Sand Hill Roads biggest names, according to former Theranos employees, none of whom would speak for attribution, fearing retaliation from Theranos. Though she only worked at the company for seven months in 2013, Cheung admitted to being "completely infatuated" with the idea of Holmes before working at Theranos on The Dropout podcast. Kathrein pointed out that Holmes paid Robertson, who served as a board member, more money than any other Theranos employee. Channing Rex Robertson is Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. It was also something concealed from some board members and employees. Tag: Channing Robertson Holmes and the Theranos Affair. This will determine whether its foundational technology is a reality or, like that Ebola test, an unfulfilled grand promise. "It's in the biomedical diagnostics arena," Robertson says. Self posts, news articles, blog posts and more are all welcome. (This spring, Theranos lobbied for and won a change in Arizona state law allowing consumers to order lab tests without a doctors prescription.) . "People didn't want to actually know the number of times that we were having issues because they were starting to realize we were having them so frequently," Cheung said. In 2000, he was featured in a special issue of Upside, entitled "100 People Who Have Changed the World". an attorney suing Theranos on behalf of investors asked Christian Holmes during his deposition. Aug 2020 - Oct 20222 years 3 months. The Rise of Theranos Theranos claimed they could run over 200 tests from a single drop of blood. Another board member with a sterling reputation was Channing Robertson, the associate dean of Stanford's School of Engineering. Ms. Holmes said that she needed secrecy to keep others from stealing her ideas, but several former employees say that Ms. Holmess steely focus on her mission an attribute deeply admired by outsiders made it difficult for her to acknowledge any serious shortcomings in the companys products. ", And although Theranos eventually had to void two years of testing, Coopersmith said Balwani was "doing everything he could to make sure the testing was accurate, by hiring the very best people. That summer, she created her first patent. She wants to change the world in health care., But that patience may be wearing thin. The promise of what this could do in terms of personalized medicine was huge, one former employee said. While Theranos was performing venous and finger-stick blood testing at Walgreens, Holmes said under oath that a venous draw's test did not indicate the type of device that Theranos was using. He opened the doors for her. Ms. Holmes insists that the company is making steady progress toward developing tests that will allow people to begin to take control of chronic diseases like diabetes. Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of Theranos, attends a panel discussion during the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting in New York in this Sept. 29, 2015 file photo. 16 Jun June 16, 2022. channing robertson reputation. Another board member with a sterling reputation was Channing Robertson, the associate dean of Stanford's School of Engineering. Buy John Carreyrou's book, Bad Blood', if you want to know more about my experience here.". Parloff had worked with Boies on a number of other stories and said Holmes and her monumental mission convinced him this latest Boies' pitch was worth pursuing. But after Holmes's conviction in January 2022 of four counts of fraud, Gibbon's widow told The Daily Mail: "'Ian would be very happy. I doubt he just stopped teaching at Stanford because he made it and could now retire. ", The former design director and engineer designer also spoke to the bizarre culture at Theranos, with Maxwell joining Arriola's team after working with her at Apple. Channing Rex Robertson est un professeur amricain connu pour avoir sig au conseil d'administration de la socit de biotechnologie aujourd'hui disparue connue sous le nom de Theranos, fonde par l'tudiant de Robertson. Holmes has the help of her lecturer, Channing Robertson, in her search. When she returned to Stanford in the fall of 2003, then 19, she laid a thick patent application in front of Mr. Robertson. "I don't think about it that much. His involvement helped convince other old white guys to join the cult (oops, I meant board and investors). Answer: Excellent question. ", Holmes: "Sunny uses very strong words to express things. Craig said the only way Holmes wouldn't remember . At the time of the article's publication, Theranos was, in fact, running the majority of its tests on third party, commercially available machines. Holmes: "I don't know exactly what the number was. ", Holmes: "I am now. It started with a question from Minnesota attorney Michael Ciresi: Why is the tobacco industry one of the nation's largest consumers of ammonia? But he said he kept pressing Theranos for answers. This is healthcare.". "[She] just kind of blinked her eyes and nodded, and left," Dr. Gardner recalled in the 20/20 special. But the crisis ebbed, and the company says getting approval for that test is no longer a priority. Left once I figured out what was going on. View Full Stanford Profile. I saw some crazy things. Mr. Holmes had a distinguished career in public service, holding a number of senior government positions in Washington. In 2012, Robertson became a member of Theranos' board of directors. After three days of interviewing, he said there were multiple follow-up phone calls and emails. and his stellar reputation went a long way in helping her build credibility with . Menu. [7] Even as Theranos was coming under growing scrutiny, as of May 2018, Robertson still believed the company was successful in developing novel blood testing technology. Sunny Balwani's attorney Jeff Coopersmith is seen here during an interview with "Nightline.". Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. It seemed Stanford professor Channing Robertson, one of Holmes' earliest cheerleaders, . The committee's findings led to legislation pending in Congress to create a new federal agency to standardize forensic techniques and certify forensic labs across the nation. However, not much is known about his life after Theranos was dissolved. But by summer 2017, the SEC was investigating Theranos, Holmes and Balwani. "Once we started working together, it was a very intense working relationship and the sort of romantic piece that was there at the very beginning died. In 2012, Theranos representatives visited Fort Detrick in Maryland. Coopersmith also said Balwani doesn't hold Holmes responsible. He said that neither she nor Theranos ever indicated anything was incorrect. It's not clear who created the character of Elizabeth Holmes, Girl Genius Holmes herself or . But, ultimately, those deals went nowhere, as the technology worked inconsistently, they say. Channing Rex Robertson is Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. I dont get it either. Dr. Gardner still teaches at Stanford and still has zero time for Holmes, calling her out for her (presumed) fake accent andaligning "herself with very powerful older men who seemed to succumb to a certain charm," per her interview in The Inventor. Ms. Holmes says that from an early age, she was obsessed with going to Stanford, a symbol of Silicon Valley and invention.. Will Channing Robertson face any consequences for getting duped and supporting this fraud? I think we were all motivated by the fact that you can't endanger the life of patients. channing robertson reputation. His and so many other stories like it had made the rounds, potentially convincing patients to take Theranos tests and doctors to recommend them. She was stripped of her control of Theranos, banned from serving as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years, and agreed to pay a $500,000 fine. ", SEC attorney: "So when you say 'tens of tests,' you mean something less than 100?". Hes clearly not teaching at Stanford anymore because of this, but the question is, do we really think he was clueless? I dont understand it. SEC attorney: "If you look at the third text message down from Mr. Balwani, he says, 'Okay. Movies. Formed in 1999, the committee was charged with bringing the scientific and legal communities together to investigate issues such as the role of science in civil and criminal litigation, the use of human subjects in scientific trials and issues pertaining to science and national security. Theranos said it was restructuring and that he was going to retire. She was backed up by nearly all her Stanford colleagues except Channing Robertson, who sided with Elizabeth Holmes. "We did also sometimes put the venous draw onto our proprietary platforms, depending on what the test order was and what period of time it was," Holmes said in her deposition. ", "He had been wanting to leave for some time," Coopersmith said. Holmes responds to questions regarding claims she made about her now defunct biotech start-up's blood-testing device, which had attracted high-ranking former military and political investors. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford under the supervision of Andreas Acrivos. Luisa Weiss was working in New York and about to get engaged when she decided to bake, roast, and stew her way through her huge collection of recipes. Ariola resigned after just four months when she discovered the still-unfinished device's results were possibly being used to help treat actual patients, saying, "I just literally had nothing I wanted to do with that company anymore.". Beyond cost, Ms. Holmes wants to allow people to bypass doctors and established labs to order and receive their own affordable diagnostic tests, accessible at the pharmacy down the street. ", Holmes: "He spent a lot of time with David and David's PR person. "CMS came in, in the harsh light of a media spotlight on Theranos and allegations by The Wall Street Journal that there was some fraud going on," Coopersmith told Jarvis. Chemical Engineering (E20) is an introductory course offered by the Stanford University Engineering Department. According to Vanity Fair's Nick Bilton, Holmes is living in a San Francisco luxury apartment and is engaged to a hospitality heir currently working in the tech field. They have a reputation, and business to uphold. His grandfather even attempted to dissuade him from speaking out with the threat of legal action at one point, but the young Shultz still spoke out, acting as one of the main sources in Carreyrou's WSJ article. Timothy Draper, the well-known venture capitalist, had been a neighbor when the Holmeses lived in California. Noel Anne Daoust worked as a congressional aide to Representative Charlie Wilson, among others, although she took a dozen years off to raise her two children. I'm tired of people coming in here and starting fires where there are no fires.'". This is a collection of 20 video lectures given by Professor Channing Robertson. Therefore, in order to process all the tests being run at Walgreens, the company had to purchase commercially available third-party machines, some of which they modified. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. In The Dropout, actor Bill Irwin essays the role of Channing Robertson. And as for his salary as a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford, he received around $145 thousand per annum. The Ruth G. and William K. Bowes Professor in the School of Engineering, Emeritus. Chemical Engineering Faculty Award An award given to a senior in recognition of academic excellence plus a high level of achievement in an activity outside of the department. Robertson was impressed with Elizabeth Holmes and her vision. With the help of some Stanford Chemical Engineering undergraduates, Robertson demonstrated to his own satisfaction that the multifilament string was indeed 'wicking' bacteria into the vulnerable environs of the uterus.