In His Own Words: The Theranos Whistleblower

The story of the Theranos downfall is already one of Silicon Valley legend. What made Tyler Shultz anonymously blow the whistle at Theranos to Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou? How did Tyler’s family connections to Theranos complicate his decision to blow the whistle? What made him finally “out” himself as the whistleblower? What experiences did he have growing up that formed his moral reasoning skills? What factors lead to the unethical culture at Theranos?

Hear directly from Tyler Shultz, the Theranos whistleblower, in this interview by Ann Skeet, senior director of Leadership Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, during an event held at Santa Clara University in the fall of 2018.

[deneengrant]

He cared about the people getting inaccurate medical diagnosis, yet the courts only cared about defrauding investors. God bless him for speaking out and caring about the people.

[jhnlee]

She thought hiring George Schultz’s grandson would boost her, but it ultimately contributed to her downfall. Love it.

[cisdolce]

I read that his parents had to spend about USD 500k on legal fees, and they were about to sell their home to protect their son. I hope that he's paid for talks like this because he deserves it.

[-rdm]

The most important lesson any parent can teach their children is the definition of integrity: always do the right thing, even when no one is watching.

[jc]

Many experienced Theranos scientists could see what was happening but took home large monthly pay checks and kept quiet. It took a young man with morals and courage to take on the fight, Well done that man.

[declanwk]

with reference to the legal fees he ran up, it is scary, that as a whistle blower, you have to consider whether you can afford to tell the truth

[averyh]

he's young, he's cute, he went to Stanford, he takes down corrupt corporations from the inside...he's the total package

[mikol.douglas]

This kid is proof that you can still be born rich and turn out good. What makes that happen? Good parenting. The story about the Japanese kindergartner speaks volumes of the parents he had. A good mother & father goes a LONG way.

[TheDavidlloydjones]

There's no reason for him to be puzzled by his job offers: Having a known whistle-blower on your staff is advertising a claim of "We're clean; we're not afraid..."

[sarahs.]

The saddest part of this-- His own family took her word over his b/c she was the CEO & was allowed at their own family functions cause grandpa was getting a fat check from her. His own grandfather set him up--please everybody take that in for a second.
You are an amazing man & I am so sorry your family didn't believe you were telling the truth.

[jhavajoe]

Tyler is a class act ( under stress). My greater admiration goes to the other whistle blower- Erika Cheung, who had less resources and connections.
I can't imagine the stress I'd be under having a renown legal bulldog growling at my heels. I'm hoping both will have great lives!

[jeffwads]

This guy is a true gem of a human-being. Any company that has someone like this in their ranks is blessed.

[euming]

if the cost to be ethical and honest in our society is $500k, and we're all saddled with student debt and mortgages, then how can we afford to be an ethical and truthful society?

[downhilltwofour]

So this young Honest man, an intern who decided to change his major from Engineering to Biology in his Junior/senior year at Stanford, knew within just a few months that this whole thing was a scam! While his Grandpa sat on the Board and was knocking down (no doubt) some serious money! LOL I for one, appreciate hi integrity and I wish him many years of success in whatever field he choses.
The fact his Grandpa was willing to throw him to the wolves and completely comrpimose his own Grand-son is despicable to me. It shows just how willfully complicit Grandpa was.

[vvenkat]

Tyler Shultz: You have more class and integrity than most and are the best product of all your family! Hold your head high man!

[JMcLeodKC]

The key here is that Ms Holmes managed to dupe enough rich, powerful people who could not afford to look stupid.

[ryanatkinson]

I'm glad that he gave credit to the other whistleblower as well

[downhilltwofour]

HIs Grandpa threw his own Grandson to the wolves in order to compromise him and his integrity. That proves to me that his Grandpa as knowingly complicit in the whole affair.

[RealDailyThom]

The sad thing is his very prominent grandfather, former Secretary of State George Schultz put his own financial interest in Theranos ahead of his young grandson. Instead of acting on the information, Tyler shared with him, George blew it off. As a grandfather myself, I can't imagine putting money ahead of family. But here we are.

[SamuelPearlman]

What a horribly confusing situation to find yourself in as an early-20's scientist!
Big props to Tyler for sticking with what he knew was right.