Newswise — WASHINGTON – AACC is pleased to announce that Erika Cheung and Tyler Shultz—two of the key whistleblowers who helped bring down Theranos—will speak in a special fireside chat at the 2022 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo in Chicago. In this session, Cheung and Shultz will discuss the ethical challenges they faced in their efforts to reveal Theranos’ fraud and protect patients from the company’s faulty tests.
After Theranos launched its retail testing service in 2013, it quickly gained national prominence with its promise of revolutionizing the way lab testing works in the U.S. However, when laboratory experts were finally able to evaluate Theranos’ actual science at the 2016 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting, Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes was unable to dispel suspicions that she was lying about her technology’s capabilities.
Cheung and Shultz worked with fellow whistleblowers to reveal—both to federal regulators and the press—that the Theranos laboratory actively put patients at risk of misdiagnosis and harm by offering them unreliable tests. Cheung later testified at Holmes’ trial as well. It is in large part thanks to the courage of these whistleblowers that Theranos was shut down and Holmes convicted of fraud.
Cheung and Shultz will discuss their experience with getting the truth out about Theranos on July 26 at the 2022 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting. Specifically, they will focus on the ethics of the situation they found themselves in at Theranos, as well as the overall ethical obligations of clinical laboratories and the vital role laboratory medicine professionals play in keeping patients safe. The discussion will be moderated by AACC President Dr. Stephen R. Master, who himself served as an expert witness in Elizabeth Holmes’ trial.
“It is a great honor to be able to feature Erika Cheung and Tyler Shultz at the AACC Annual Scientific Meeting,” said Master. “They exemplify the commitment that all laboratory medicine professionals have to providing high quality test results that lead to effective patient care, and they are an inspiration to the community at large. All of us at AACC are looking forward to hearing their insights into the ethics of laboratory testing.”
Arrangements for the appearance of Tyler Shultz were made through UTA Speakers, New York, NY.
Session Information
AACC Annual Scientific Meeting registration is free for members of the media. Reporters can register online here: https://www.xpressreg.net/register/aacc0722/media/landing.asp
Tuesday, July 26
1 - 2:30 p.m. U.S. Central Time
Room S100
McCormick Place Convention Center
Chicago
About the 2022 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo
The AACC Annual Scientific Meeting offers 5 days packed with opportunities to learn about exciting science from July 24-28. Plenary sessions will explore artificial intelligence-based clinical prediction models, advances in multiplex technologies, human brain organogenesis, building trust between the public and healthcare experts, and direct mass spectrometry techniques.
At the AACC Clinical Lab Expo, more than 700 exhibitors will fill the show floor of the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago with displays of the latest diagnostic technology, including but not limited to COVID-19 testing, artificial intelligence, mobile health, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, point-of-care, and automation.
About AACC
Dedicated to achieving better health through laboratory medicine, AACC brings together more than 70,000 clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, research scientists, and business leaders from around the world focused on clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, translational medicine, lab management, and other areas of progressing laboratory science. Since 1948, AACC has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing programs that advance scientific collaboration, knowledge, expertise, and innovation. For more information, visit www.aacc.org.
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