Left bleeding: the SA medic who helped expose Theranos

Dr Adam Rosendorff, who describes himself as “a third-generation South African Ashkenazi Jew”, found himself at the centre of one of the greatest dramas to hit Silicon Valley in recent times. As a whistleblower, he played a key role in bringing down Theranos, an American privately held corporation seen as “the next Apple Inc”.

Films, books, and TV series have since been made about Theranos’ rise and fall from grace. Rosendorff, a clinical pathologist and specialist in laboratory medicine, was caught in the middle as a Theranos laboratory director. The ramifications of being a whistleblower had an impact on every area of his life, and he had a breakdown soon after first raising the alarm on Theranos.

Now, he calls on Jewish communities to create “Jewish groups specifically to support whistleblowers”, whose needs are great, especially regarding psychiatric care. He envisions rabbis, community leaders, and professionals working together on such initiatives. He also sees a need for “a more mild mechanism that would allow impartial third parties to adjudicate and mediate between employees and employers”.

Theranos was founded in 2003 by then 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes. It claimed that it had devised rapid, inexpensive blood tests that required just a finger prick. These claims were later proved to be false. Theranos raised more than $700 million (R11.8 billion) from venture capitalists and private investors, resulting in a $10 billion (R168.9 billion) valuation at its peak in 2013 and 2014. It all began to fall apart from 2015 in a devastating downfall that resulted in civil and criminal proceedings.

Rosendorff says workplaces often mirror family dynamics, and it’s important for employees and employers to be aware of that, as it can often lead to unhealthy interactions.

Delving into his own family history, he says, “My father’s parents, Karlie and Ray, were born and bred Bloemfontein Jews – sports fanatics who drove a tiny Fiat. My grandfather was a boxing referee and my grandma a poker player. My uncle Neil was a renowned South African cricketer who passed away from lymphoma.

“My dad started at Wits Medical School when he was 16. He was president of NUSAS [the National Union of South African Students]. He met my mom at a conference in Cape Town. My mom was a nursery school teacher at the time. He immigrated to the United Kingdom in his 20s to continue his training. He then came back to South Africa in the late 1960s. My brother, Peter, and sister, Nicola, were born in London. I was born in Joburg.

“I always had an interest in the human body, biology, science, and how things work,” Rosendorff recalls. “When I was 12, I did a science experiment by mixing all of my mom’s perfumes together. I was also very curious about mixing swimming pool chemicals together!”

But he also had a love of the English language. “I went to high school at King David Victory Park with Mr [Jeffrey] Wolf. I came third in the English Olympiad when I was 16. I did English Literature and Economics at Wits.”

His parents moved to New York in 1990. “I was under pressure to do something ‘respectable’, which for many Jewish families is medicine, engineering, or business. At least that was the case for me,” says Rosendorff.

Rosendorff followed his parents to the States, where he did pre-med at Columbia and then medical school at Mount Sinai. “I spent four and a half years as a basic science researcher on the Epstein Barr virus. I then decided to do something more clinical, so I did a residency in blood medicine and clinical pathology.

“My first job out of residency was at the University at Pittsburgh, which serves poor, underserved people in Western Pennsylvania,” he recalls. Though he found this work meaningful, there were challenges.

“I worked in the basement of a hospital. When the wind blew in, it blew right through you. It was freezing and dreary. There wasn’t a ton of opportunity.” So when he was offered the job at Theranos, he decided to head to Silicon Valley, where it was warmer and where what he thought was an exciting opportunity lay ahead.

“Theranos was led by charismatic, intense individuals, but I could tell they were hiding a lot. I didn’t listen to my gut. I asked at the outset if they wanted to go the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] route, but I never got an answer. I quickly became disillusioned with what I saw there. I blew the whistle after leaving the company in 2014. For a period of about nine years, I co-operated with federal government entities to expose Theranos – most recently testifying in trials which resulted in convictions.”

Being a whistleblower is complex, he says. On the one hand, he had a “massive need to get it off my chest”, but on the other, the stress of it all led to a breakdown, medication, hospitalisation, and health problems. For eight years, he was interviewed over and over again by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, department of justice, and US Postal Inspection Service. “I was only really able to come off medication when trials were scheduled in early 2020,” Rosendorff says.

To other potential whistleblowers, he says, “Try to get some perspective when you’re at a company you suspect is doing something wrong. Talk to people outside the company – former employees, your family – that’s extremely important, and whistleblower lawyers. Really understand the benefits and risks of being a whistleblower.

“Becoming a whistleblower will change your life completely,” he says. “It will change the way friends, relatives, and co-workers see you. It will change how you view yourself and the world. So weigh the risks and benefits very carefully. There are potentially huge financial gains to blowing the whistle if you’re part of a very large company that is engaged in illegal activity and is trying to co-opt you to be part of it.”

To anyone thinking of going into clinical pathology as a career, Rosendorff’s advice is, “Go for it! It’s an incredible career that’s focused on technology and the patient. It’s also intensively personalised now.”

After he left Theranos, Rosendorff joined the genomics company Invitae as lab director. “Around the time my daughter was born, I joined a urine toxicology company in San Diego. I was then recruited to lead the COVID-19 testing effort for the state of California in 2021. I ended that public-service job in July 2022. I’m now working for Color Genomics on COVID-19 testing, and I’m back as a consultant for Millennium Health on urine toxicology.

“I live in Walnut Creek, three miles [4.8km] from my daughter, who has just started kindergarten. I blog, give talks, write, consult, and plan to visit South Africa soon.” He describes the South African Jewish community as “wonderfully warm”, one that “plays a pivotal role in transformation in South Africa”.

“I consider myself a public servant and a proud South African,” Rosendorff says. “I hope to extend the lessons I learnt growing up in South Africa in the United States.”