Tommy G. Thompson, the former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and governor of Wisconsin, has joined the board of Socrates Health Solutions Inc. The Dallas-based company makes a noninvasive blood glucose monitoring device.
During his time at the HHS under President George W. Bush, Thompson’s worked on initiatives relating to bioterrorism preparedness and helped achieve funding increases for the National Institutes of Health, among other things.
Scott Smith, CEO of Socrates, said the former HHS leader will help advance the company’s mission to improve the lives of diabetics—a disease that affects 371 million worldwide. More than 26 million Americans are diabetic—a number that has been growing by 2 million per year, Smith said.
The entrepreneur’s, called the Companion, is clipped to the ear and produces a digital blood glucose reading using infrared light. The technology was developed by a former NASA scientist whom Smith met through his best friend from college. The scientist, who did not know how to market his invention, licensed the technology to Socrates.
After leaving the public sector in 2005, Thompson became a partner at a law firm, joined the consulting firm Deloitte, and now serves many nonprofit organizations.
Socrates’ promising blood glucose device is still in development; it has not yet been cleared by the FDA and is not yet available for sale.
