Phyllis Gardner | |
---|---|
Phyllis I. Gardner | |
Born | 1950or1951(age 72–73) [1] |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | |
Years active | 1976-present |
Known for | First skeptic of Elizabeth Holmes Ion channel biophysics |
Board member of |
|
Spouse | Andrew Perlman [1] [2] |
Awards | Judith Pool Award |
Scientific career | |
Fields | |
Institutions | |
Notable students | Elizabeth Holmes |
Notes | |
Phyllis I. Gardner (born July 7, 1950) is a Professor of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and former Dean of Education. Gardner was one of the first people to be publicly skeptical of Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of blood testing company Theranos, who was later found guilty of investor fraud. [1] [6] [7]
Gardner completed her bachelor's degree at the University of Illinois, where she specialized in biology. [5] She studied at Harvard Medical School and graduated in 1976. [5] [8] [9] She has held a license to practice medicine in California since 1979. [8] She completed research fellowships at Columbia University and University College London. [5] [10] She was a postdoctoral fellow at University College London in 1982. [11] Gardner trained in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. [5] She was a Chief Resident at the Stanford School of Medicine. [12] In 2002 Gardner argued against a merger of University College London and Imperial College London. [13] Gardner is married to Andrew Perlman. [1] [2] Perlman is an executive within the biotechnology sector in the United States. [1] [2] He briefly served on an advisory board for Theranos for a few months before the panel was shut down. [2] Perlman learned that Theranos was a significant buyer of laboratory diagnostic testing equipment from the company Siemens. [14] [15]
Gardner joined Stanford University in 1984. [7] [16] Her initial role upon hiring in 1984 was as assistant professor of medicine and pharmacology. [16] Gardner works on cardiac arrhythmias and cystic fibrosis pathogenesis. [5] [17] [18] Gardner was appointed Senior Associate Dean for Education and Student Affairs at Stanford University. [19] [10] She is a Professor of Clinical Pharmacology. [20] [21] She led a laboratory that focused on ion channel biophysics. [22] In 2003, Gardner testified to the United States House of Representatives on the subject matter of applications of biotechnology research in the United States. [23] Gardner's medical and scientific research has been published in multiple peer-reviewed scientific journals including Nature , Science , and The Lancet . [24] [25] [26]
After spending ten years in academia, Gardner became interested in research and development and entrepreneurship. [22] She mentored women interested in pursuit of the field of science. [27] She gained experience within the of companies seeking out venture capital funding. [27] She developed several forms of slow released medication, including an adaptation for retention in the stomach. [28] [29] Gardner has been involved with several start-ups in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. [13] From 1996 to 1998 Gardner served as Vice President of Research and Head of the Technology Institute at the Alza Corporation. [10] Gardner served as Director of the biopharmaceutical company Revance Therapeutics from 2007 to 2018. [30] She is an adjunct partner at Essex Woodlands Health Ventures. [31] She founded several companies, including the Genomics Collaborative, SKOLAR and the CambriaTech Holding Co. [32] She was appointed to the Board Of Directors of Ventaira Pharmaceuticals in 2006. [32] Gardner serves on the Board of Fellows of the Harvard Medical School. [33] She was appointed to the Board of Directors of CohBar, a clinical stage biotechnology company, in 2019. [5]
In 2002, Elizabeth Holmes visited Gardner at Stanford University. [27] [7] [34] Holmes proposed her idea for a microfluidic device that could detect and treat infectious diseases. [27] [7] [34] Gardner was critical of the proposal, and told Holmes she did not think her invention would be successful. [35] [36] [37] She explained to Holmes that it is not possible to use antibiotics on such a small scale. [7] [38] [39] Holmes dropped out of Stanford a few months later, but Gardner followed the evolution of Theranos. [38] Very briefly, both Gardner and Holmes served on the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows after Holmes was given an invitation to join. [1] Gardner did not permit Holmes to visit the Stanford campus and called for her to be sent to prison. [40] [27] Holmes was ultimately found guilty of criminal fraud, in the federal case, United States v. Elizabeth A. Holmes, et al. — which was brought by the United States against her and Theranos former president and COO Sunny Balwani. [7] [1] [6]
The Wall Street Journal investigative journalist John Carreyrou delved into the manner in which Elizabeth Holmes failed to convince Gardner to involve herself in her company Theranos; he recounted this in-depth in his 2018 book, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup . [41] [42] [43] This relationship was investigated further in the 2019 Alex Gibney documentary, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley . [44] [45] [46] Rebecca Jarvis delved into the early background between Gardner and Holmes, in her 2019 podcast about Theranos, The Dropout . [47] [48] [49] In the 2022 American biographical television drama miniseries The Dropout , based on the Jarvis podcast of the same name, Gardner appeared as a character in the show. [50] [51] Gardner was portrayed by Emmy Award-winning actress Laurie Metcalf in the Hulu series about the rise and fall of Theranos and its founder and CEO. [52] [53] [54]
Year | Award | Category | Organization | Result | Ref. |
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1998 | NCC-AWIS Award | Judith Pool Award | Association for Women in Science | Won | [3] [4] |
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal recessive manner that impairs the normal clearance of mucus from the lungs, which facilitates the colonization and infection of the lungs by bacteria, notably Staphylococcus aureus. CF is a rare genetic disorder that affects mostly the lungs, but also the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and intestine. The hallmark feature of CF is the accumulation of thick mucus in different organs. Long-term issues include difficulty breathing and coughing up mucus as a result of frequent lung infections. Other signs and symptoms may include sinus infections, poor growth, fatty stool, clubbing of the fingers and toes, and infertility in most males. Different people may have different degrees of symptoms.
Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is a membrane protein and anion channel in vertebrates that is encoded by the CFTR gene.
Seliciclib is an experimental drug candidate in the family of pharmacological cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors that preferentially inhibit multiple enzyme targets including CDK2, CDK7 and CDK9, which alter the growth phase or state within the cell cycle of treated cells. Seliciclib is being developed by Cyclacel.This is a phase II, dose ranging, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
Ivacaftor is a medication used to treat cystic fibrosis in people with certain mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, who account for 4–5% cases of cystic fibrosis. It is also included in combination medications, lumacaftor/ivacaftor, tezacaftor/ivacaftor, and elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor which are used to treat people with cystic fibrosis.
Theranos Inc. was an American privately held corporation that was touted as a breakthrough health technology company. Founded in 2003 by then 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos raised more than US$700 million from venture capitalists and private investors, resulting in a $10 billion valuation at its peak in 2013 and 2014. The company claimed that it had devised blood tests that required very small amounts of blood and that could be performed rapidly and accurately, all using compact automated devices that the company had developed. These claims were proven to be false.
Elizabeth Anne Holmes is an American biotechnology entrepreneur who was convicted of fraud in connection to her blood-testing company, Theranos. The company's valuation soared after it claimed to have revolutionized blood testing by developing methods that needed only very small volumes of blood, such as from a fingerprick. In 2015, Forbes had named Holmes the youngest and wealthiest self-made female billionaire in the United States on the basis of a $9-billion valuation of her company. In the following year, as revelations of fraud about Theranos's claims began to surface, Forbes revised its estimate of Holmes's net worth to zero, and Fortune named her in its feature article on "The World's 19 Most Disappointing Leaders".
Lumacaftor/ivacaftor, sold under the brand name Orkambi among others, is a combination of lumacaftor and ivacaftor used to treat people with cystic fibrosis who have two copies of the F508del mutation. It is unclear if it is useful in cystic fibrosis due to other causes. It is taken by mouth.
Chloride channel openers refer to a specific category of drugs designed to modulate chloride channels in the human body. Chloride channels are anion-selective channels which are involved in a wide variety of physiological functions and processes such as the regulation of neuroexcitation, transepithelial salt transport, and smooth muscle contraction. Due to their distribution throughout the body, diversity, functionality, and associated pathology, chloride channels represent an ideal target for the development of channel modulating drugs such as chloride channel openers.
John Carreyrou is a French-American investigative reporter at The New York Times. Carreyrou worked for The Wall Street Journal for 20 years between 1999 and 2019 and has been based in Brussels, Paris, and New York City. He won the Pulitzer Prize twice and is well known for having exposed the fraudulent practices of the multibillion-dollar blood-testing company Theranos in a series of articles published in The Wall Street Journal.
Tezacaftor is a drug used for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF) in people six years and older, who have a F508del mutation, the most common type of mutation in the CFTR gene. It is sold as a fixed-dose combination with ivacaftor under the brand name Symdeko. It was approved by the U.S. FDA in 2018. The combination of elexacaftor, tezacaftor, and ivacaftor is being sold as Trikafta.
Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani is a businessman, former president and chief operating officer of Theranos, which was a privately held health technology company founded by his then-girlfriend Elizabeth Holmes. He and Holmes fraudulently represented that they had devised a revolutionary blood test that required only small amounts of blood, such as from a fingerstick. Both Balwani and Holmes were convicted of fraud. The consequences of the fraud led to the collapse of Theranos and the loss of billions of dollars to investors.
Ian Gibbons was a British biochemist and molecular biology researcher who served as the chief scientist of the US company Theranos, which was founded by Elizabeth Holmes. For more than 30 years, Gibbons performed research in medical therapeutics and diagnostic testing prior to joining Theranos in 2005. He attempted to raise issues with Theranos' management about the inaccuracy of their testing devices.
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley is a 2019 American documentary film, directed and produced by Alex Gibney. The film revolves around Elizabeth Holmes and her former company Theranos. It is considered a companion piece to the book, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup.
Jane C. Davies is a British physician who is Professor of Paediatric Respirology at Imperial College School of Medicine. She is an Honorary Consultant at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust.
The Dropout is an American biographical drama television miniseries that dramatises the rise and fall of the disgraced biotechnology company Theranos and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, played by Amanda Seyfried. It features an ensemble supporting cast, including Naveen Andrews, Elizabeth Marvel, William H. Macy, Stephen Fry, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Bill Irwin, Utkarsh Ambudkar, LisaGay Hamilton, Michael Ironside, Laurie Metcalf, Anne Archer, and Sam Waterston. Created by Elizabeth Meriwether, the series is based on the podcast of the same name hosted by Rebecca Jarvis and produced by ABC News.
Channing Rex Robertson is a professor emeritus of chemical engineering at Stanford University. He held multiple significant roles at startup Theranos, founded by his student Elizabeth Holmes. Robertson took on major responsibilities at the company prior to its collapse, including becoming its first board member, engaging with venture capitalists, and recruiting biochemist Ian Gibbons. He retired from Stanford in 2012, becoming professor emeritus. Theranos named him the co-leader of their technology advisory board in 2017. He was called as a witness in United States v. Elizabeth A. Holmes, et al., which convicted Holmes and partner Sunny Balwani of criminal fraud. During his time working for Holmes, Robertson was paid US$500,000 per year by Theranos. Since his active role in the Theranos scandal, he went back to teach one course at Stanford.
Elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor, sold under the brand names Trikafta and Kaftrio, is a fixed-dose combination medication used to treat cystic fibrosis. Elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor is composed of a combination of ivacaftor, a chloride channel opener, and elexacaftor and tezacaftor, CFTR modulators.
Underrepresented populations, especially black and hispanic populations with cystic fibrosis are often not successfully diagnosed. This is in part due to the minimal dissemination of existing data on patients from these underrepresented groups. While white populations do appear to experience a higher frequency of cystic fibrosis, other ethnicities are also affected and not always by the same biological mechanisms. Thus, many healthcare and treatment options are less reliable or unavailable to underrepresented populations. This issue affects the level at which public health needs are being met across the world.
Paul Adrian Negulescu is an American–Romanian cell biologist. He is the Senior Vice President and Site Head of the San Diego Research Center of American pharmaceutical company Vertex Pharmaceuticals. He received the 2022 Shaw Prize in Life science and medicine, together with Michael J. Welsh, for their work that uncovered the etiology of cystic fibrosis and developed effective medications.
Michael James Welsh is an American pulmonologist. He is the current Roy J. Carver Chair in Biomedical Research, the Professor of Internal Medicine in Pulmonary, Critical Care and Occupational Medicine at the Department of Internal Medicine, and the Director of Pappajohn Biomedical Institute, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa. He is also a professor at the Department of Neurosurgery, Department of Neurology, and Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. He received the 2022 Shaw Prize in Life science and Medicine, together with Paul A. Negulescu, for their work that uncovered the etiology of cystic fibrosis and developed effective medications.