Theranos, the embattled blood testing startup that hopes to replace needles with finger pricks, announced yesterday that it had recruited six experts in the science of diagnostic testing to its scientific advisory board, a group of paid consultants whose job is to help Theranos founder and chief executive Elizabeth Holmes make decisions. Unlike a board of directors, such a scientific advisory board has no formal power.
The press release contained a statement from David Helfet, head of the trauma service at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, that made it sound as if these experts had given Theranos an all clear. Helfet has been a co-chair of Theranos’ scientific board for some time, and was introduced to Holmes by Henry Kissinger, who is on Theranos’ board of directors.
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