History of Elizabeth Holmes

Elizabeth Holmes was born on February 3, 1984, in Washington, D.C.

In 2002, Holmes attended Stanford, where she studied chemical engineering and worked as a student researcher and laboratory assistant in the School of Engineering.

In 2003, Holmes founded the company Real-Time Cures in Palo Alto, California, to "democratize healthcare".

In 2003, Holmes renamed the company Theranos (a portmanteau of "therapy" and "diagnosis"). Robertson became the company's first board member and introduced Holmes to venture capitalists.

During her research, Elizabeth came up with a wearable drug-delivery patch that could help in early detection and prevention. The device incorporated microfluidics and nanotechnology into a patch that could sample the blood, detect an infection and deliver antibiotics to the infected area.

In 2009, Sunny Balwani joined the company as Chief Operating Officer and President whose expertise was software and IT.

In 2010, Elizabeth and Balwani pitched an early version of Edison to Walgreens and by 2013 the two companies signed a contract. Thus, the first Theranos Wellness Center was set up in Walgreens, Palo Alto, where it could reach the consumers directly.

Forbes named Holmes the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire -worth $4.5 billion- in 2014, when she was 30 years old.

Holmes partnered with Carlos Slim in June 2015 to improve blood testing in Mexico.

In January 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sent a warning letter to Theranos after an inspection of its Newark, California laboratory uncovered irregularities with staff proficiency, procedures, and equipment.

On June 15, 2018, following an investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California in San Francisco that lasted more than two years, a federal grand jury indicted Holmes and former Theranos chief operating officer and president, Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, on nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Both pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors allege that Holmes and Balwani engaged in two criminal schemes, one to defraud investors, the other to defraud doctors and patients.

On November 29, 2021, Holmes testified that she had been raped while she was a student at Stanford and that she sought solace from Balwani in the aftermath of the incident.

On January 3, 2022, Holmes was found guilty of four out of 11 charges of fraud; she was acquitted on four charges; the jury failed to reach a verdict on 3 counts.

The Dropout is an American drama streaming television miniseries created by Elizabeth Meriwether, based on the podcast The Dropout hosted by Rebecca Jarvis and produced by ABC News. It documents the disgraced biotechnology company Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes (played by Amanda Seyfried). The series premiered on the streaming service Hulu on March 3, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews with critics praising the writing and the performances of the cast, particularly Seyfried's and Andrews'. The series received 6 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series.