Can Anne Wojcicki save 23andMe?

OPINION

By Matthew Herper

Alex Hogan/STAT, photo: Milken

I still remember the first moment I met 23andMe CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki in 2007. My editor at the time had set up a meeting with Wojcicki, along with 23andMe co-founder Linda Avey, at an upscale sandwich shop on East 13th Street in New York City. It was a hot day. Three of us were already chatting when Wojcicki careened in, began talking at a mile a minute, and unselfconsciously grabbed a glass of water from the table — my glass — and took a big sip.

That moment has stuck in my head because it sums up so much about who Wojcicki has always been as she has lived what must be one of the 21st century's most interesting lives, pinballing through a world of biology, high tech, and finance. More than once, Wojcicki's efforts have saved 23andMe from corporate disaster. But over the past year, the realities of being a company with a publicly traded stock have brought the firm to its knees.