10/29/2008:
We’ve all been there before; sitting in the hospital lab, facing down the stern nurse who’s wielding a straw-like needle, hoping against hope that our glares will persuade her to not jab us with her instrument of torture. We eventually relent and feel the cold alcohol rubbed onto our arm as we listen to the ubiquitous lie told by all hospital professionals, “This will only hurt a little.” This ritual, played out in hospital labs nationwide, is a necessary evil of modern health care. The limited amount of pain inflicted by doctors and nurses protects patients from diseases much worse than a jab in the arm. However, just as the good Lord heard Israel’s cry and led His people out of Egypt, so have medical technicians heard our cries of pain and are working to rescue us from the bondage of needles and blood testing.
In 1989 a small company called Abaxis was founded by a few innovative scientists in California who began designing a blood tester that didn’t require large needles, lab technicians or expensive testing equipment. They envisioned a small machine that could fit into a doctor’s office, would require but a few drops of blood and could deliver testing results in minutes.
Although they had an excellent idea and a pretty good design, Abaxis, like the ancient Hebrews, were forced to wander the wilderness. Technical problems involving blood separation caused malfunctions. Limited exposure to doctors and hospitals hindered sales, and by 1996 the company was losing $6 million a year, despite having a product that could revolutionize the medical testing industry. That was when Abaxis found their Moses, and hired Clint Severson to lead them to the Promised Land, and fiscal stability.
Clint Severson was born to a nurse and an insurance agent living Minot, North Dakota. After high school, Clint attended Minot State University, graduating in 1973 with a degree in business. After college Severson moved to San Francisco looking for work. Competing with graduates from Stanford and Harvard, Severson excelled in the California business world, and by the mid-1990’s he had established himself as a successful, aggressive salesman, something Abaxis knew it needed.
Shortly after joining Abaxis, Severson stabilized and expanded his new business. He worked to redesign his company’s blood testing machine, called the Piccolo, making it more efficient and reliable. He fought lawsuits brought against Abaxis, struggled with the Food and Drug Administration for the Piccolo’s approval, and successfully turned the company around. Last year Abaxis netted $11 million dollars and is expanding its sales nationwide. For his amazing victory in turning a failing company into one of the most successful businesses in the nation, Forbes Magazine named North Dakota native, Clint Severson, its “Entrepreneur of the Year,” on this date, October 29, 2007. Should Severson and Abaxis continue on their path to success, our days of bondage to needles are indeed numbered.
Sources:
"Abaxis Ceo Clint Severson Named 'Entrepreneur of the Year' by Forbes Magzine", PR Newswire http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-technology-1/Abaxis-CEO-Clint-Severson-Named-Entrepreneur-of-the-Year-by-Forbes-Magazine-1275-1/ (accessed October 9, 2008).
Minot State University Alumni Association & Development Foundation. "Forbes Magazine Names Minot State Graduate 2007 Entrepreneur of the Year." Connections Spring 2008 (http://www.minotstateu.edu/alumni/pdf/ConnectionsSpring08e.pdf).
Thomas, Susan L., "Severson Positions to Create New Market", East Bay Business Times http://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2004/03/01/smallb1.html (accessed October 9, 2008).
Whelan, David, "Medicine Man", Forbes.com http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/1029/088.html (accessed October 9, 2008).