A Mighty Girl
As a 19-year-old sophomore at Stanford, Elizabeth Holmes decided to transform diagnostic medicine so she dropped out of college and used her tuition money to start her own company, Theranos. Twelve years later, Holmes, pictured here holding a micro-vial, is on the cutting edge of medical technology -- her new blood testing method allows hundreds of tests to be run using only a few drops of blood. And, Holmes' methods are cheaper, faster, more accurate, and less invasive than conventional methods which often require a separate vial of blood for every test.
As Holmes told Wired, "I started this company because I wanted to spend my life changing our health care system. When someone you love gets really sick, most of the time when you find out, it’s too late to be able to do something about it. It’s heartbreaking... We wanted to make actionable health information accessible to people everywhere at the time it matters most. That means two things: being able to detect conditions in time to do something about them and providing access to information that can empower people to improve their lives."
With Holmes' new tests, results are ready in less than four hours and their accuracy rate is high because they have virtually eliminated human error. Holmes spent years developing a machine that can run up to 30 laboratory tests with only one drop of blood -- and her company currently offers nearly 200 different tests. She has partnered with Walgreen’s Pharmacy to deliver on-site laboratory services in the chain's 8,200 drugstores in the near future and has already rolled out lab testing facilities in several states. Ultimately, Holmes aims to have a testing center within five miles of every American and one mile of every city resident and Walgreens hopes to eventually offer these testing services in the pharmacies of their European partner, Alliance Boots.
Holmes also wants to make diagnostic tests more accessible for people by pricing her services far cheaper than traditional tests. In the interview, she shared an example of a test that consumers often pay out of pocket -- fertility tests which can cost as much as $2,000. "These tests provide the data you need to figure out someone’s fertility, and some women can’t afford them," Holmes observed. "Our new fertility panel is going to cost $35. That means women will be able to afford the tests. They’ll be able to better manage the process and take some of the stress out of trying to conceive."
The 31-year-old entrepreneur is also showing that women-founded and women-led companies can be extraordinary successful. Her company is now valued at $9 billion and, since Holmes owns half of the company, she was recently named America's youngest female self-made billionaire.
Ultimately, to Holmes, the most exciting aspect of her work is that her technology will help people live healthier lives: "It drives me crazy when people talk about the scale as an indicator of health, because your weight doesn’t tell you what’s going on at a biochemical level. What’s really exciting is when you can begin to see changes in your lifestyle appear in your blood data. With some diseases, like type 2 diabetes, if people get alerted early they can take steps to avert getting sick. By testing, you can start to understand your body, understand yourself, change your diet, change your lifestyle, and begin to change your life."
To read more about this young technology innovator on CNN, visithttp://cnnmon.ie/1vinBfy -- or watch Holmes' recent TED talk on her work athttp://bit.ly/1zdlHuX
To introduce readers 8 to 13 to more inspiring women inventors, we highly recommend “Girls Think of Everything” for readers 8 to 13 athttp://www.amightygirl.com/girls-think-of-everything
For two excellent picture books about Mighty Girls who love to invent -- both for ages 4 to 8 -- check out “The Most Magnificent Thing" (http://www.amightygirl.com/the-most-magnificent-thing) and "Rosie Revere, Engineer" (http://www.amightygirl.com/rosie-revere-engineer).
For hundreds of true stories of trailblazing girls and women in science, technology, and other fields, visit our "Role Models" biography section athttp://www.amightygirl.com/books/history-biography/biography
If you're looking for ways to encourage your children to become the next engineering and technology innovators, visit A Mighty Girl's STEM toy section athttp://www.amightygirl.com/toys/toys-games/science-math
And, for two parenting books filled with inventive at-home projects to explore with your kids, check out “Tinkerlab: A Hands-On Guide for Little Inventors” (http://www.amightygirl.com/tinkerlab) and “Maker Dad: Lunch Box Guitars, Antigravity Jars, and 22 Other Incredibly Cool Father-Daughter DIY Projects” (http://www.amightygirl.com/maker-dad).