Haas Women in Washington - SPRING 2021 - University of California, Berkeley
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S P RIN G 2021 S PRI NG 2 0 2 1 02> Haas Women in Washington Three professors managing nation’s finances Plus: ALUMNI ACCELERATE HEALTHCARE’S FUTURE P. 12 THE FONT DETECTIVE P. 20
TEN 8 A new PRO SPORTS business model PAGE 26 9 TAKE AWAYS 6 The crime- How e-tailers TRICK fighting you into power of buying more PAGE 9 FONTS PAGE 20 7 A virtual hug 2 PAGE 8 from your HAAS ALUMNI Lessons in TEAM BUILDING NETWORK from hackers and hula hoopers PAGE 55 3 Why BAD IDEAS PAGE 51 spread in A beloved social networks BOOKSTORE’S PAGE 4 secrets for success 4 Technology The actual accuracy of that will revolutionize PHOTO: C HRISTIN A GA NDOLFO; I LLUSTRATION S: DRUE WAG NER election polls FIREFIGHTING PAGE 6 5 PAGE 45 10 MASTHEAD 1 Ute Frey Contributing Writers Address changes: SPRING A look Executive Editor Michael Blanding, Mickey Butts, Meilan Carter-Gilkey, Krysten alumni@haas.berkeley.edu Contact: 2021 at the Amy Marcott Managing Editor Crawford, Jeneé Darden, Nancy Davis Kho, Andrew Faught, letters@haas.berkeley.edu Berkeley Haas Magazine, future of From left: Jason Bellet, BS 14; Indu Subaiya, MBA EmDash Morgan Foy, Carol Ghiglieri, Kate Madden Yee UC Berkeley 2001 Addison St., Ste. 240 healthcare 06; and Terrell Baptiste, MBA 20; are three of many Art Director Berkeley Haas is published Berkeley, CA 94704 Haas alumni pushing the PAGE 12 Staff Writers three times a year by the Haas boundaries of healthcare. Laura Counts, Kim Girard, School of Business, University Natasha Payés of California, Berkeley. Cover: Tim O’Brien
PUBLIC POLICY National Treasures PHOTO: © SHAWN THEW - POOL VIA CN P/C NP VIA ZUMA WIRE Haas economists manage nation’s finances BY LAURA COUNTS Three Berkeley Haas economists are continuing the school’s long tradition of public service in Washington, D.C.: Assoc. Dean and Prof. Catherine Wolfram and Assoc. Prof. Adair Morse have joined Prof. Emeritus Janet Yellen, who serves as secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Yellen, the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve, is now the first woman to serve as treasury secretary. She’s also the first person to have served in the nation’s three top economic roles, since she also chaired the President’s Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton administration. < More Online Haas economist and Distinguished Prof. Laura D’Andrea Tyson was the first 2 Learn about the long history of Haas economists influencing public policy: haas.org/public-policy. woman to chair the Council of Economic Advisers. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE> Berkeley HAAS
< CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE PERSPECTIVES media—even by artificial users known as bots. “Ten years ago, no one was talking Like-Minded In an experiment, Guilbeault and colleagues Yellen is credited with shepherding the country asked numerous people to identify what they saw about ‘fake news,’ and now everyone out of the Great Recession when she led the Fed from 2014 to 2018 and will now serve as Pres- in Rorschach blots. is trying to categorize whether #HAASOME “In small populations, there was a ton of vari- ident Biden’s lead economic advisor as he con- ation in how people described the shapes,” says news media is fake or not.” fronts the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The power and vulnerability of Guilbeault. “As you increase the size of the pop- She will also be instrumental in helping Biden it, and you get a cascade.” reduce income inequality and initiate an economic social networks ulation, however, rather than creating unpredict- Interestingly, he and his colleagues were able to ability, you could actually increase your ability to recovery package focused on manufacturing and manipulate people’s choices by introducing bots predict the categories they’d decide on.” clean-energy jobs. BY MICHAEL BLANDING with an agenda into the system. These automatic The large groups consistently settled on just ILLU STRATION: DANIEL HERTZBERG “Economics isn’t just something you find in participants continually implanted the idea that a handful of ways to describe the numerous dif- Prof. Emeritus Janet Yellen a textbook,” Yellen wrote on Twitter after being the ink blots looked like a sumo wrestler, an oth- Secretary of the U.S. There’s a reason ideas—even erroneous ferent blots, including “crab,” “bunny,” “frog,” sworn in. “It can be a potent tool to right past erwise unpopular category. Sure enough, when Department of the Treasury ones—catch fire on social media, says Berkeley and “couch.” wrongs and improve people’s lives.” bots accounting for 37% of participants pushed Haas Assistant Professor Douglas Guilbeault: “When you’re in a small group, it’s more likely Yellen has also increased the department’s the idea, human users also started adopting it over groupthink. His new research, published in for unique perspectives to end up taking off and focus on fighting climate change. Wolfram, the other categories. Nature Communications, shows that large groups getting adopted,” Guilbeault explains. “Whereas Cora Jane Flood Professor of Business Adminis- What’s more, when researchers afterwards TOP SCHOLAR all tend to think alike and illustrates how eas- in large groups, you consistently see ‘crab’ win tration, started March 1 in the position of dep- showed those participants the image commonly ily people’s opinions can be swayed by social out because separate individuals are introducing Matteo Maggiori, uty assistant secretary for climate and energy deemed a crab by other groups, they were much PhD 12, won the economics in the Office of Economic Policy. She more likely to call it sumo as well. “We showed prestigious Fischer is a world-renowned expert who has published people the crabbiest crab,” Guilbeault says, “but Black Prize honor- extensively on climate and energy economics and now plenty of people described it as looking like ing the top finance led randomized controlled trials to evaluate energy a sumo.” scholar under 40. programs in the U.S., Ghana, and Kenya. The same phenomenon happens on social The biennial award “It’s fantastic that the Biden administra- media, says Guilbeault, who has previously Prof. Catherine Wolfram from the American Deputy Assistant Secretary tion is paying so much attention to climate researched the influence of Twitter bots. By push- Finance Association for Climate and change,” says Wolfram. “It’s one thing to sit in ing an idea continuously, both real and automated Energy Economics is analogous to the your office and write about what policy makers users are able to sway the majority to use their John Bates Clark should and shouldn’t do, but I’m really excited terms. “In some sense, Trump’s presidency was a Medal in economics. to be a part of those efforts.” war over categories,” Guilbeault says. “Ten years Maggiori’s research Morse, the Soloman P. Lee Chair in Business ago, no one was talking about ‘fake news,’ and has included the Ethics and a member of the Haas Finance Group, now everyone is trying to categorize whether news analysis of inter- began in February as deputy assistant secretary of media is fake or not.” national capital capital access in the Office of Domestic Finance, For that reason, he says, content moderation flows, exchange rate which develops policies and guidance for Treasury by social media platforms that relies on identi- dynamics, bubbles, Department activities in the areas of financial fying the difference between real and fake news and the role of tax institutions, federal debt finance, financial regu- may actually be doing more harm than good by havens. He’s an lation, and capital markets. subtly validating those very categories. A better associate profes- Assoc. Prof. Adair Morse Morse had spent much of the pandemic helping approach, Guilbeault says, may be to focus on Deputy Assistant Secretary sor at the Stanford small businesses. She and Tyson developed an inno- eliminating the bots spreading the categories in of Capital Access Graduate School of vative loan program that uses public capital to attract the first place—or to create more accurate cate- Business. In 2013, private lenders and provide low-interest credit to the gories that are also appealing enough to spread. Haas Prof. Ulrike most vulnerable small businesses. It became the foun- “You could do market research in a networked Malmendier was dation of the state’s California Rebuilding Fund and a focus group,” says Guilbeault, in order to dis- the first woman to program in Berkeley. cover and spread more benign ideas. Those strat- receive the prize. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to egies might ultimately succeed better than using serve in the Biden Administration and to join flags or warnings in changing the way people the team at Treasury, serving the people of this communicate, leading to a more civil public dis- great country,” says Morse. course overall. < More Online The Takeaway The Takeaway 4 Listen to “Who’s Yellen Now?” a Hamilton- style rap created by rapper and songwriter Dessa, a member of the hip-hop collective Doomtree: smarturl.it/DessaYellen. This Berkeley Haas research on groupthink was named one of Wikipedia’s notable scientific events of 2021. Our unique perspectives might hold up in small groups, but in large ones, like on social media, our beliefs are vulnerable to the manipulative power of groupthink. 5 Berkeley HAAS SPRING 2021
Research >> 1,400 POLLS ANALYZED // GENERAL ELECTIONS & Snapshot PRIMARIES in 2008, 2012, 2016 MARGINS OF #HAASOME 5 ERROR In order to be 1 YEAR BEFORE 4.5 ELECTION 95% accurate, ADJUSTMENT FACTOR NEEDED FOR 95% ACCURACY margins of error pollsters need should be tripled to greatly 4 increase the 1 WEEK BEFORE margins of 3.5 ELECTION margins of error error they should be doubled report. 3 2.5 UNNAMING BARROWS 2 Last fall, the uni- 1.5 versity removed the RESEARCH name Barrows Hall from the building POLLING TRUTH 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 1 that housed the business school NUMBER OF WEEKS UNTIL ELECTION from 1964 through 1994 due to the leg- ACCURACY acy of white suprem- Just how accurate are election polls? OF POLLS 70% 1 YEAR+ BEFORE acy and racism Most polls THE ELECTION less than 40% of polls espoused by former ask, “If the PERCENTAGE OF POLLS WITHIN MARGIN OF ERROR BY LAURA COUNTS are accurate UC President David election were 60% Prescott Barrows. held today,…” Public confidence in election polls plum- A 95% confidence interval means that Barrows is one of at yet accuracy meted after Donald Trump beat Hillary if the same sampling procedure were 50% least four campus declines the Clinton in 2016 despite trailing her in followed 100 times, 95 of those samples unnamings aimed at farther from DAYS BEFORE THE the polls. Even so, horse race-style cover- would reflect the true voter population. ensuring that build- an election 40% ELECTION age of the latest polls continues to domi- These statistical “sampling errors,” how- ing namesakes align the poll was only about 60% of PH OTO: IRENE YI; ILLUSTRATION: BRIA N STAUFFER nate election news cycles. ever, do not include errors and unknowns, polls are accurate with Berkeley’s conducted. A recent Berkeley Haas study suggests such as surveying the wrong set of people. 30% principles of com- that election poll accuracy hasn’t actually “There are many reasons why an actual munity. Until the declined. Rather, it was never as accurate outcome and poll could differ, and the way 10 WEEKS BEFORE building receives 20% THE ELECTION as pollsters claimed. pollsters compute confidence intervals a new name, either only about half of Most election polls report a 95% confi- doesn’t take those issues into account,” honorific or phil- polls are accurate dence interval. Yet an analysis of polls from says Prof. Don Moore, who conducted the anthropic, it will be 11 election cycles dating back to 2008 found analysis with Aditya Kotak, BA 20 (com- known as the Social that the outcome lands within the poll’s puter science and statistics). 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 1 Sciences Building. result just 60% of the time. And that’s for “Perhaps the way we interpret polls as a NUMBER OF WEEKS UNTIL ELECTION polls just one week before an election— whole needs to be adjusted to account for accuracy drops even more further out. this uncertainty,” Kotak says. The Takeaway The Takeaway The Takeaway 6 It’s easy to take sampling error into account in polling statistics, but much harder to account for all the other unknowns, says Prof. Don Moore. To actually achieve 95% confidence, polls would need to double the margins of error they report even a week from election day. Just days before an election, polls are 95% confident but only 60% accurate. Accuracy diminishes the more time there is before an election. 7 Berkeley HAAS SPRING 2021
thousands of people to tinker and display their monalities. Thus, engineers teaching geometry projects. Gorbatâi tracked how often attendees with fractal tiles reported a newfound admiration reiterated a shared purpose, such as “everyone is for the technology used by hula hoopers. a maker.” So, what can managers do to foster that What dominated her data wasn’t information sense of inclusiveness people experience at about skills people learned. Most often, attend- Maker Faires? ees described infectious emotions and discovering “Finding ways to share positive emotional others’ projects through the creator’s eyes—what experiences can foster bonding and a sense of Gorbatâi refers to as emotional contagion and shared identity within your organization or empathetic recognition. team,” Gorbatâi says. “Even activities that might Emotional contagion makes people more recep- seem frivolous but elicit emotion go a long way tive to learning from diverse participants, while in revitalizing people’s energy and connection to empathetic recognition leads them to find com- each other and to their shared identity.” tional fees are only disclosed at check- out—resulted in people spending more than those shown all-inclusive prices up front. It’s a particularly effective strategy for online sales, which in the past two years have overtaken brick- and-mortar shopping. For the experiment, StubHub ran- domly assigned half of all U.S. users, who count in the millions, to a hidden fee structure: Buyers saw only the ticket list price as they shopped; extra fees were displayed on the checkout page. Enjoying positive TEAM BUILDING emotional experiences, The other half of users saw all-inclusive including laughs, can prices, which included fees and taxes Emotional Appeal foster bonding and a sense ONLINE SHOPPING generally amounting to 15% of the of shared identity within ticket price plus shipping and handling. your team, says Asst. Prof. Overall, the StubHub users who Andreea Gorbatâi. How to strengthen organizational bonds DRIP BUY weren’t shown fees until checkout spent about 21% more on tickets and were 14% more likely to complete a purchase compared with those who saw BY LAURA COUNTS The cunningness of hidden fees all-inclusive prices from the start. Those in the hidden-fee group also BY MORGAN FOY PHOTO: YURIY SELEZN EV / A LAM Y STOCK PH OTO bought pricier tickets. PHOTO: M4OS PHOTOS / ALA MY STOCK PHOTO In an age of Zoom fatigue, it may be tempting to dispense with The findings raise questions as to those silly team-building activities that elicit groans at many a staff meeting. There’s a reason online ticket sell- whether consumers have a right to full ers hit you with those extra fees after price transparency up front. Tadelis Yet a focus on pure efficiency may be short- Andreea Gorbatâi’s longitudinal study of the you’ve picked your seats and are ready noted that some governments have reg- sighted, especially if your team or organization eclectic Maker movement, a collective identity to click “buy.” ulated this behavior—Canada, for exam- struggles with finding a shared purpose. New that began with electronics hackers and grew to Pure profit. ple, banned drip pricing for ticket sales. research finds that emotion sharing—and not just include people with seemingly nothing in com- A massive field experiment by Prof. “I can’t think of a good reason to information sharing—is a powerful yet often over- mon—from crafters and physicists to do-it-your- Steven Tadelis with the online ticket allow this practice in any country as looked part of building group identity. selfers of all stripes. marketplace StubHub concluded that the harm to consumers is clear from our That’s according to Haas Assistant Prof. Pre-pandemic, Maker Faires attracted tens of so-called “drip pricing”—whereby addi- study,” Tadelis says. The Takeaway The Takeaway 8 One way to build staff cohesion is through authentic opportunities for collective emotional experiences and creating shared meaning—conferences, festivals, trade shows, or team activities away from everyday work. “Websites that incorporate ‘hidden fees’ that are only revealed at checkout are making more money than they would if they chose to honestly display all fees upfront,” says Prof. Steven Tadelis. 9 Berkeley HAAS SPRING 2021
$30 million for this initiative, but more support is needed to ensure Haas is a leading destination for COMPANY CULTURE entrepreneurial thinkers and leaders worldwide. Rendering of Haas’ new Renovation will start later this year on an Entre- Entrepreneurship Hub, slated for renovation later this year. preneurship Hub (shown left), located in a historic Julia Morgan building adjacent to Haas. The three- floor Hub, for which Haas is still seeking a $10 INFECTION million naming donation, will feature spaces to gather, work, and learn while celebrating the entre- preneurial achievements (and Beyond Yourself atti- tude) of the Haas community. A generous donation POINT #HAASOME from Brett Wilson, MBA 07, for example, named Narcissism goes viral the Hub’s TubeMogul kitchen, after the business he launched as a student and later sold to Adobe. BY MICKEY BUTTS The largest room will be called the Castaneda Innovation Forum in honor of the parents of Elena #HAASOME Gomez, BS 91, who pledged $2 million to the Narcissistic leaders—you know the building. Gomez, the CFO of Zendesk, wanted to type. Their exploitative, self-ab- celebrate their hard work as immigrants from El sorbed behavior sets them apart from Salvador and their dedication leading to her being the charismatic, transformational PLANT FUTURES a first-generation college student and talented busi- leaders they can be confused with. ness executive. “My parents didn’t have a lot of And now research shows they can A new student-led money or education, but they believed you have to infect organizational culture like a initiative caters to give your kids the best education possible,” Gomez virus, leading to dramatically lower plant-based food says. “My success and my ability to give this gift are levels of collaboration and integrity entrepreneurship. directly due to their support.” at all levels—even after they’re gone. The two-part pro- To understand how best to expand learning “When narcissistic leaders under- gram, a collabora- PROBLEM-SOLVING opportunities, Shrader and a colleague interviewed mine collaboration, they reduce the tion among Berkeley Training Innovators students and stakeholders to identify their greatest effectiveness of the organization,” Haas, the School of needs. Haas is now seeking $17 million in endowed says Prof. Jennifer Chatman. Public Health, the PRESTIGIOUS PRIZE funds to support programming that will include, Chatman and colleagues conducted College of Engineer- Professor Nicolae among other offerings, summer stipends so stu- experiments and a field study that ing, and the Berke- Gârleanu won the dents can focus on startups. included CEOs of major companies ley Food Institute, Ross Prize in Finan- New initiative will make Haas a campus gateway On the faculty front, the new virtual Entre- and found that narcissists don’t insti- offers a sympo- cial Economics for for entrepreneurial thinking preneurship and Innovation Group will enhance tutionalize collaborative and ethical sium and the Plant a paper, “Over-the- cross-disciplinary thought leadership by uniting behaviors. They often choose not to Futures Innovation Counter Markets,” Haas faculty from different groups who conduct support pay equity or promote team- Challenge Lab. The BY CAROL GHIGLIERI that he co-authored research in innovation and entrepreneurship. The work and civility, for example. And latter allows stu- with colleagues group is led by Prof. Toby Stuart, the Leo Helzel they often fail to sanction employees dents to complete a from Stanford and If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that entrepreneurial Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. who violate shared norms. hands-on learning Copenhagen Business “Having Toby is an asset,” says Rene Kern, BS 86, Yet don’t bold leaders like Tesla’s project mentored by school. The paper, thinkers are desperately needed to help society solve its greatest challenges. a Haas donor and member of the UC Berkeley Foun- Elon Musk or Apple’s Steve Jobs need leading plant-based published in Econo- Haas students created a zero-waste startup to fill recycled plastic bottles with dation. “He can bring entrepreneurship to life by to be narcissistic to launch visionary industry partners. metrica, was lauded bringing in practitioners who have successful track ventures? Definitely not, says Chat- hand sanitizer they distributed for free to low-income communities. Alumni RENDERI NG: FERN AU & HA RTM AN ARCH ITECTS, INC . for “transforming records at company building.” Kern has pledged $3 man. “You can have confidence and be LEARN MORE: our understanding spearheaded ambitious efforts to deliver medical goods worldwide. They’ve million to endow one of four new faculty chairs in innovative and not be self-involved, plantfuturesberkeley.com of liquidity and entrepreneurship. The other three chairs have been exploitative of others, and risk-insen- succeeded because Haas taught them how to bring game-changing ideas to life, I LLUSTRATION : LERA DA NILOVA /ISTOC K price determination endowed by Michael Grimes, BS 87 (electrical engi- sitive,” she says. “Bill Gates is a per- in over-the-counter whether as entrepreneurs via startups or as intrapreneurs in their companies. neering and computer science); Mark Robinson, BA fect countervailing example.” markets in which 88 (history and political science); and DK Kim, Par- A board can mitigate damage from many financial Showing students how to apply classroom lessons strategic pipeline of programs,” she says. ent 94, 98, and Dick Blum, BS 57, MBA 59. a toxic leader by basing a portion of assets are traded.” to entrepreneurial endeavors is the work of Rhonda Now, a new Entrepreneurship and Innovation “Berkeley offers a unique ecosystem by virtue compensation on the development of Gârleanu shared a Shrader, MBA 96, who’s directed the Entrepreneur- Initiative seeks to enhance Haas’ efforts on three of its rich tradition in research and sciences and their people and rewarding collabo- $50,000 prize for ship Program since 2016. Shrader coordinated 80 fronts: creating a centralized hub for all of cam- its presence in Silicon Valley,” Kern says. “These ration, Chatman says. his work. campus programs and clubs to help students acquire pus, expanding programming, and endowing fac- incredible assets will allow Haas to establish a pre- practical skills. “The big thing was about building a ulty thought leadership. Haas has raised nearly eminent position in entrepreneurship.” CONNECTIONS CONNECTIONS To donate to the Initiative, visit haas.berkeley. Chatman conducted her The Takeaway The Takeaway 10 11 edu/ehub. Interested in making the $10 million research along with The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Leaders high on the narcissism naming donation for the Entrepreneurship Hub? Stanford’s Charles O’Reilly, Initiative will enhance Haas’ scale are less collaborative and Contact Howie Avery, assistant dean & chief MBA 71, PhD 75, and reputation as a primary destination for ethical—as are the cultures of development officer: howieavery@berkeley.edu. Bernadette Doerr, MS 11. entrepreneurial thinkers and leaders. the organizations they lead. Berkeley HAAS SPRING 2021
Jason Bellet, BS 14; Terrell Baptiste, MBA 20; and Indu BY KRYSTEN CRAWFORD Subaiya, MBA 06; are three of many Haas alumni shaping paths to greater wellness. PHOTOS BY Christina Gandolfo EALTH H INFLUE NCERS Haas alumni accelerate healthcare’s future
FOR 200 Others are working to streamline features of also means developing new economic models, Real-world data is a byproduct of the boom- healthcare that often hinder innovation: payment including payment structures based on successful ing digital health market. Seed fund Rock Health models, organizational structures, and regula- patient outcomes. estimates that venture capitalists poured a record YEARS, tions. In interviews, Haas alumni reveal a shared $14 billion last year into U.S. digital health com- mission: to make medical care—a $3.8 trillion panies, a 72% jump from the previous peak in business in the U.S. in 2019, according to the “WHEN PATIENTS FALL OFF 2018. McKinsey & Company valued the global Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services—more THE RADAR, WE CAN FIND digital health market at $350 billion in 2019— affordable, accessible, and scalable. before the pandemic. OUT WHAT HAPPENED FROM Terrell Baptiste, MBA 20, thinks about real-world Using ‘real-world’ data FAMILIES OR THE COMMUNITY data and its promise in another context: clinical In Ohio’s Montgomery County, death rates from opi- drug trials. Last year, he joined Gilead Sciences as a oid overdoses have been among the nation’s high- OR IF THEY SHOWED UP FOR senior manager to identify ways the pharmaceutical est and are surging anew amid the pandemic. It’s WORK FROM EMPLOYERS.” company can use information from nontraditional the stethoscope has been the workhorse of physi- also the test site for an ambitious effort by Alpha- cal exams. But a stethoscope is only as good as the bet-owned Verily Life Sciences to reinvent addiction human ear listening to it. How could it be adapted treatment and recovery. Called OneFifteen—named for the digital age? wondered Jason Bellet, BS 14, for the country’s average daily opioid death rate and two Berkeley friends: Connor Landgraf, BS of 115 people in 2017—it features state-of-the-art 13, MEng 14 (bioengineering), and Tyler Crouch, medical and residential facilities on a 4.5-acre cam- BS 14 (mechanical engineering). pus in Dayton. In 2013, the trio co-founded Eko Devices and, Treating substance abuse, with its sky-high with support from Berkeley’s SkyDeck Accelera- relapse rates, is difficult for many reasons, says tor Program, developed a $349 stethoscope that Rebecca Messing Haigler, MBA/MPH 09, Verily’s can amplify heart and lung sounds 40 times better health economics lead and recently announced than its analog cousin. Connected software gener- chief development officer of portfolio company ates sound waveforms and electrocardiograms that Onduo. Doctors lack high-quality information allow some 80,000 clinicians to “see what they about how different patients respond to various hear” and share recordings as needed. Last fall, treatments, and little or no coordination exists the Oakland-based company, with 115 employ- among clinicians, communities, and families. Pay- ees, closed on $65 million in Series C funding ment models are also broken, she says. Patients and partnered with AstraZeneca to develop new don’t receive the comprehensive care they need in screening tools. part because insurers typically pay for services up “Heart disease is the No. 1 killer worldwide, front—not based on outcomes. JASON BELLET, BS 14 and there are millions of people with undiagnosed OneFifteen’s model, which Messing Haigler Co-Founder, cardiac problems that can now be detected with helped design, relies on a comprehensive care con- Eko Devices greater accuracy in 45 seconds during a routine tinuum powered by a technology infrastructure checkup,” says Bellet. Early last year, the FDA that enables better data collection throughout the cleared Eko’s algorithm for detecting heart mur- treatment and recovery process, from data sources murs and atrial fibrillation; a separate algorithm including state and county programs, mobile apps, received an FDA emergency use authorization family surveys, employer updates, and the crimi- to help clinicians detect a weak heart pump in nal justice system, among others. COVID-19 patients, an especially high-risk group. “When patients fall off the radar, we can find Today, Eko is more than a device maker. It’s a soft- out what happened from families or the commu- ware and data-science company aiming to develop nity or if they showed up for work from employ- artificial intelligence-powered screening tools that ers,” says Messing Haigler. This could lead to can detect a range of health conditions in 60 seconds improvements in treatment and at a faster rate. during a routine checkup, says Bellet. His team is Messing Haigler is describing a relatively new also building a virtual primary care platform. phenomenon in healthcare known as “real-world” Haas community healthcare innovations like data. The term essentially refers to the multitude PHOTOS: CH RISTINA GA NDOLFO Eko are booming. From startups to Fortune 500 of health-related information generated outside companies, venture capital firms to nonprofits, of a doctor’s office. Think voluntary user health alumni are leading monumental shifts in health- surveys, fitness trackers—even insurance claims. care—often backed by huge sums of money. Some Verily’s mission is to combine this data (with REBECCA MESSING entrepreneurs, like Bellet, are focused on improv- member consent and rigorous privacy policies) HAIGLER, MBA/MPH 09 ing preventative care and disease diagnosis or with machine learning to better prevent, detect, Health Economics helping to develop new drugs and treatments. and manage diseases. For Messing Haigler, it Lead, Verily CONNECTIONS Rebecca Messing Haigler, MBA/MPH 09, worked 14 with Tony Duynstee, MBA 09, on the development of OneFifteen. Duynstee is VP of strategic oper- ations at Alexandria Real Estate Equities, the treatment center’s real estate developer. 15 Berkeley HAAS SPRING 2021
sources to speed the development and approval of practices of leaders at all levels of the organiza- colon cancer—one that, according to a recent study “I’M HOPEFUL [REAL-WORLD new cancer drugs. A 2016 federal law mandated tion,” she says. “Do you want to include more conducted at Stanford’s Veterans Affairs Palo Alto that the FDA incorporate data from outside tradi- Black and brown individuals in program design? Health Care System, successfully detects pre-can- EVIDENCE METHODS] WILL tional clinical trials into its approval process for Great. How are you incentivizing that from a cerous polyps. It works by searching for extremely HELP USHER IN MORE pre-market pharmaceuticals. It’s early days for the leadership standpoint?” rare abnormal dysplastic epithelial cells and tiny FDA-developed framework for using real-world traces of DNA that tumors shed. Other tests based EFFECTIVE, REALISTIC, AND data, but the impact will be revolutionary: Trials Supercharging blood tests on the company’s technology are already sold in DIVERSE WAYS TO CONDUCT can take eight years or more to conduct and are Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of Asia. CellMax plans to seek FDA approval before limited in scope because they depend on volun- cancer deaths in the U.S., yet one-third of adults introducing the screening to the U.S. next year. CLINICAL TRIAL RESEARCH.” teers—who are often white, educated, and retired. age 50 to 75 don’t get screened, according to the “The only real cure for cancer is early detec- TERRELL BAPTISTE, With the combination of real-world data and Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Newer tests tion,” says Sharan, who started CellMax Life is part of a growing market for non-invasive “liq- MBA 20 digital health technologies, such as smartphones, using stool samples collected at home haven’t nearly a decade ago after his mother was diag- uid biopsies” that use advanced genomic sequenc- Senior Manager, clinical-trial volunteers could participate from changed this. nosed with late-stage, untreatable cancer and his ing and machine learning to identify diseases and Gilead Sciences home, allowing for more frequent monitoring of Atul Sharan, MBA 91, has a solution. His com- wife with a malignant breast tumor shortly after potentially tailor treatments to individuals. Bill a possible treatment and thus faster discoveries. pany, CellMax Life, has developed what he says being cleared by a negative mammogram. His Gates and Jeff Bezos, for example, poured over FDA regulators could also monitor a drug’s effects is the first blood test for preventive screening for company, which has raised more than $50 million, $100 million into liquid-biopsy company Grail, over a longer period of time. which sold last year for $8 billion. LAUREN DUGARD For Baptiste, using real-world data in clinical THOMAS, MBA/MPH 17 trials has another crucial advantage. Marginalized Reinventing autism care Senior Manager, paitients—often an afterthought in healthcare One in 54 children in the U.S. were diagnosed with Enterprise generally, and drug development specifically—can autism in 2016, according to the CDC. Twenty Innovation, Blue participate in studies and benefit from new ways years ago, it was just one in 150. No surprise, then, Shield of California of working that have arisen from the pandemic. that waitlists for therapy can run up to six months. “Clinical trials measure effectiveness at a spe- Soaring demand for autism care isn’t the only cific point in time and for a patient population problem, says Jia Jia Ye, MBA/MPH 11. Kids often who may not be the only ones actually benefit- need multiple forms of therapy—behavioral, speech, ing from it,” says Baptiste, whose work includes and physical—for up to 30 hours a week. Specialists volunteer research on behalf of sickle cell disease often work independently, making it time-consum- patients, the majority of whom are African Ameri- ing and frustrating for parents to coordinate care and can. “Real-world evidence attempts to fill the large navigate labyrinthine insurance rules. gaps in knowledge about who could benefit from Ye’s groundbreaking solution is to combine PHOTOS (FROM TOP LEFT): CHRISTINA GANDOLFO (2); COURTESY LAUREN DUGA RD THOMAS; RYA N CRESTA NI a new treatment. I’m hopeful this will help usher expertise and payments at a single locale. A year in more effective, realistic, and diverse ways to ago, she co-founded Springtide Child Develop- conduct clinical trial research.” ment with $18 million in Series A funding. Now with three clinics—two in Connecticut and one Closing gaps in care opening this summer in Massachusetts—the Lauren Dugard Thomas, MBA/MPH 17, works to startup employs specialists from across disci- address health inequities by improving the inno- plines, coordinates appointments, and handles vation process itself. At Blue Shield of Califor- insurance claims. Ye says consolidation enables an nia, where she’s a senior manager in enterprise unprecedented degree of standardization in care. innovation, she empowers all employees to gen- Just as important: Ye and her team can quantify erate entrepreneurial solutions, like with inter- patient progress, which smaller operations can’t nal design challenges à la Shark Tank. She also do for lack of money and data. “When you take an ensures that underserved populations are fac- interdisciplinary approach to autism treatment, tored into every business decision, big or small. you see rapid improvement in kids’ progress,” Dugard Thomas says that for companies com- says Ye. “And you can show it through consistent mitted to reducing inequities, “the first step is outcome metrics at all levels of care.” educating internal decision makers about dispari- ties and making it clear that maintaining the sta- ATUL SHARAN, MBA 91 Advancing women’s health tus quo will only widen the gaps.” For Amy Fan, MBA/MPH 19, improving care is Owner, CellMax Life Since the increase in national awareness of about making birth control more accessible and racial injustice last summer, she’s seen a spike in affordable for U.S. women—especially the 60% LinkedIn job listings for experts in social deter- who are on Medicaid, uninsured, or underin- AMY FAN, minants of health. Even so, Dugard Thomas says sured—to get birth control. She co-founded MBA/MPH 19 real change goes beyond budgets and head counts. Twentyeight Health in late 2018 to offer online Co-Founder, “It’s about the mindset, expectations, and reproductive services. Twentyeight Health The Takeaway 16 Overcoming racial and other inequities in healthcare requires all parts of a business, from top to bottom, to factor these gaps into every decision around innovation. 17 Berkeley HAAS SPRING 2021
“WHEN fall, the startup landed $5.1 million in seed funding. “So much of healthcare is focused on people YOU TAKE with a high ability to pay,” says Fan. “For low-in- AN INTER- come patients, and for women of color especially, we put so many burdens on them without trying DISCIPLINARY to understand how we can make it easier for them APPROACH to access healthcare.” TO AUTISM Powering innovation TREATMENT, Fan attributes much of Twentyeight Health’s success to networks of healthcare insiders—within Haas and YOU SEE RAPID IMPROVEMENT STREAMLINING beyond—who have offered advice and opened doors. They include Juan José Orellana, BS 95, a Los IN KIDS’ EMERGENCY Angeles-based strategy consultant who’s held PROGRESS.” SERVICES senior roles within startups and the Fortune 200 company Molina Healthcare. He helped Fan explore the potential of expanding Twentyeight Health Pre-hospital care, which includes through partnerships with payers and providers. everything a patient experiences from “To innovate in healthcare, you need to be part of 911 call to ER arrival, can signifi- an ecosystem,” Orellana says. “You need to be able cantly impact survival rates. And a lot to tap into a value network that can facilitate col- is broken with the system, says Tanir JUAN JOSÉ laboration, accelerate learning, and provide match- Ami, MBA 01 (shown above). ORELLANA, BS 95 making for your organization’s needs and offerings.” Indu Subaiya, MBA 06, has made a career out Strategy Consultant TOP OF LIST: Poor coordination among of fostering ecosystems in healthcare. First as a paramedics, police, and firefighters. co-founder of Health 2.0 and now as president “Everyone is siloed,” she says. “There’s of Catalyst @ Health 2.0, she’s organized con- no integration of communication, data ferences, open-innovation challenges, and pilot collection, or practices.” By law in many programs to introduce new ideas to deep-pock- states, paramedics can take patients eted stakeholders. Too often, she says, healthcare only to hospitals or skilled nursing entrepreneurs can’t get the traction to scale up. facilities, not to a primary care pro- “My primary mission is to introduce groundbreak- vider or psychiatric health facility. It’s PHOTOS (F ROM TOP LEF T): SH OEY SIN DEL; COURTESY O F JUAN JOSÉ ORELLANA; CHRISTINA GANDOLFO ing technology to the world,” she says. one of the reasons why emergency rooms In the last 15 years, Subaiya’s conference plat- are strained, says Ami. form has debuted hundreds of startups, including As CEO of the CARESTAR Founda- Teladoc, a big provider of telehealth services, and tion, Ami awards grants supporting Livongo Health, which helps patients manage dis- innovations in emergency response eases digitally. Last year, Teladoc bought Livongo and trauma care throughout Califor- for $18.5 billion. She and her team have also coor- nia. Last year, for example, CARESTAR dinated more than 90 contests, with $9 million in awarded $450,000 for a pilot program total prize money. JIA JIA YE, MBA/MPH 11 treating opioid overdoses in Contra One competition, worth $100,000, drew scien- Co-Founder, Springtide Costa County that coordinates patient tists from 18 countries in a race to build a better INDU SUBAIYA, MBA 06 Child Development care among emergency medical ser- COVID outbreak prediction model using govern- President, vices, hospitals, and public health ment data and millions of Facebook user surveys Catalyst @ Health 2.0 agencies. CARESTAR has also funded tracking virus symptoms. The CDC has incorpo- efforts to empower first-responders, rated the winning model, developed by a Georgia for example allowing them to dis- Her model is straightforward: Women com- on underserved women, and it’s often the only Tech team, into its pandemic forecasting—and pense certain medications or giving plete an evaluation with a board-certified physi- player accepting Medicaid in the states where it’s found it to be among the top five most accurate them the authority to take patients to cian via a combination of asynchronous and live active. It also partners with Bedsider’s Contra- prediction tools. “That’s a phenomenal example a sobriety center, primary doctor, or telemedicine—including phone and direct mes- ceptive Access Fund to provide a year of free birth of open innovation,” says Subaiya. P HOTO: C HRIS SOREN SEN homeless shelter. sage—for a prescription for birth control pills, control for uninsured women. Innovation, accessibility, scaling up—just as “The problems in pre-hospital care are rings, patches, or shots. A monthly supply of pills Twentyeight Health’s expansion has been gradual in medicine, different balms can help to heal our not easy to solve,” says Ami. “But innova- starts at $18; for insured women, only co-pay as the company navigates state-by-state Medicaid healthcare system. And the Berkeley Haas commu- tion is happening.” fees (typically $0) apply. Twentyeight Health is rules, but today, the company operates in nine states, nity is shaping countless paths to greater wellness the only online reproductive platform focused including New York, North Carolina, and Florida. Last for everyone. CONNECTIONS CONNECTIONS The Takeaway Amy Fan, MBA/MPH 19, credits Haas alumni and Indu Subaiya, MBA 06, says William Rosenzweig’s lessons 18 Consumer technologies have the potential to not only improve daily health behaviors but also advance disease detection and individualized treatments. faculty for helping her navigate healthcare’s landscape. Aaron Schwartz, MBA 10, opened up his network of investors after interviewing her for a scholarship. “I try to pay it forward,” says Fan. in social entrepreneurship inspired her work raising awareness about health disparities and overlooked healthcare issues, like veteran suicide, eating disorders, and maternal health for Black women. 19 Berkeley HAAS SPRING 2021
THE FONT DETECTIVE Thomas Phinney, MBA 03, UNCOVERS DID YOU KNOW? Though Phinney concedes that the definitions of “font” and FORGERIES “typeface” are not universally agreed upon by the font community, most concur that a typeface is one or more related fonts of a family. So Calibri (regular), Calibri italic, and and solves Calibri bold are all fonts under the umbrella of the Calibri typeface. But the two terms are often used interchangeably. MODERN-DAY CRIMES BY NANCY DAVIS KHO Illustration by Derek Brahney
homas Phinney was working as as one’s performance on creative cognitive tasks Thomas Phinney, MBA 03, is the product manager in Adobe after reading. the world’s foremost forensic font expert, capable of dating Systems’ fonts group when his Type design, a craft that blends art and science, and identifying fonts and the team received a request from an is like fashion or furniture, says Phinney, himself a technology used to print them. attorney about a suspected will type designer. “While true innovation is rare, peo- forgery. The lawyer wondered ple consistently come up with variations on existing whether the fonts in which the themes or combine existing elements in new ways.” disputed document was typed He points to the ScienceGothic.com site, which might provide a clue. “I was the displays an open-source, dynamic typeface he’s only one in the group to say, ‘Hey, been working on with funding from Google. Users that sounds cool!’” says Phinney. can quickly change the weight, width, contrast, Using a digital microscope and and slant of the font to achieve different-looking counting individual pixels, Phin- results, all while still staying within the Science ney noticed speckles of stray ink Gothic family—something that would require around each letter and “wicking,” 200+ fonts to achieve using traditional methods. or bleeding, of ink along the paper “It’s proof that there’s still so much new you can fibers. He deduced that the docu- do with fonts,” says Phinney. ment had been printed on an early inkjet printer at 300 dots per inch (dpi). “There was one small TURNING UP THE problem,” says Phinney. “That type of printer ‘INTELLECTUAL SIMMER’ didn’t exist in 1983,” the year the document was Phinney earned undergraduate degrees in psy- purportedly written. The Case of the Wicked Will, chology and political science at the University as Phinney calls it—he affectionately names all of of Alberta in Canada, where he grew up, then a his investigations—was cracked. master’s in graphic arts publishing with a special- Phinney’s fascination with all things fonts and ization in design and typography at the Rochester typography have led him to become the world’s Institute of Technology. He then began an 11-year foremost forensic font expert, capable of dating and career with Adobe Systems in Silicon Valley. identifying fonts and the technology used to print It was during his Adobe stint that he decided to them. He’s been an expert witness for numerous pursue his Berkeley MBA via the evening and week- court cases and evaluated questioned documents end program. Phinney was attracted to the school’s for the U.S. Treasury, The Washington Post, the BBC, reputation and quality. “The level of intellectual sim- the PBS television show History Detectives, and mer at Haas was really lovely,” he says. “People’s EXHIBIT A more. He also consults for the likes of Microsoft brains were always working to come up with new and Google. Whether uncovering forgeries, verify- ideas and to challenge each other, and I liked being ing font sizes against mandated legal requirements, in an academic environment operating on that level.” or a host of related typography conundrums, Font Earning an MBA might not have been the most TYPE CASES Detective Phinney relishes his work at the inter- obvious career path, Phinney says, but he used his section of art, commerce, history, and technology. Haas training to move up the product manage- ment chain at Adobe and later at font management The Canadian Caper WHY TYPOGRAPHY MATTERS software company Extensis in Portland, Oregon, A former millionaire turned bankrupt For a field with roots in Gutenberg’s printing where he currently lives. In 2014, Phinney joined telecom executive in Canada sought to EXHIBIT B press, fonts remain at the bleeding edge of our FontLab, a creator of apps for type design and font shield two of his homes from creditors An image from the disputed digital world. Digital typography underpins virtu- creation, as VP, later becoming CEO. by producing two signed declarations will in Phinney’s first case, Exhibit A shows ally every page with which we interact online. And While crediting a Haas course in negotiation as stating they were being held in trust “wicking” (bleeding) of yet, Phinney often finds himself defending why being particularly helpful in progressing through for his children. Phinney testified in a ink along paper fibers, as it all matters. Branding, for one thing, he says. the management ranks, it was a class in managing sworn affidavit for the Ontario Superior well as bigger streaking “The selection of typefaces and the arrangement technology-related businesses taught by Profes- Court that one of the documents, sup- from the printing process, both visible at top of of them can be as important as the use of color, sor Emeritus Hal Varian that Phinney recalls as a posedly created in 1995, was written in the “o.” Also visible is a images, or abstract graphics in creating a brand,” game changer for his career. Cambria. The other declaration, dated stairstep pattern on the Phinney wrote in Communication Arts magazine. “That one class gave me fundamental tools and 2004, used Calibri, now the default inside of the “o,” an effect Psychological research has also shown that new ways of thinking about interconnected ideas typeface on most Microsoft software, of the 300 dots-per-inch even subtle differences in typography, such as that all played into my day job, like substitutability including Word. But neither font was resolution of the inkjet printer. By contrast, Exhibit using small caps and old-style figures, can affect of goods and zero marginal cost for digital goods— publicly available until the release of B shows offset lithography, a reader’s mood (as indicated by use of the cor- including fonts,” says Phinney. “They’re essen- Windows Vista in 2007. The defen- like book printing. rugator muscle in the forehead to frown) as well tially a weird form of mass-produced software.” dant’s lawyers tried to claim the man was mistaken about the dates the doc- uments were signed, but the court was CONNECTIONS having none of it, saying that it was Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network “unavoidable” the trusts were shams. 22 Economy by Haas Professors Emeritus Hal Varian and Carl Shapiro, was the most important book Phinney read at Haas. “It was so meaningful about the interplay of economics and technology,” he says. Berkeley HAAS
DRIVING DEMAND “The selection of typefaces ial amount of money I could earn through these FOR DETECTIVE WORK and the arrangement of cases, especially if I took the time to publicize it in a formal way.” Just two years after hanging out them can be as important But even as his day jobs kept him busy, Phinney his virtual shingle as The Font Detective, Phinney continued getting called to the work that had long earns as much as half his revenue from font foren- fascinated him: unlocking the mysteries held by fonts and typography. Throughout his corporate as the use of color, images, sics; the remainder comes from designing fonts for Calibri Font released to work years, “Cases just kept popping up,” he says, or abstract graphics in clients like Google. general public in 2007 creating a brand.” with word of mouth driving font forensic ques- tions to his personal inbox. THE BAD, THE INADVERTENT, One such case involved a rabbi who had faked AND THE ILLEGIBLY SMALL his credentials to land a job. A family in his con- document was dated 1968, but the font in which Phinney says that most forensic cases fall into one gregation turned to Phinney to validate details of his name was printed didn’t exist until 1992,” of two categories. The “nefarious” cases are those the man’s graduation certificate, or smichah. The Phinney says. And so ended The Case of the Rep- like the man who sought to prevent his wife from rabbi had taken steps to make it harder to detect, rehensible Rabbi. getting her fair share of assets in their divorce by degrading the quality of the document by provid- By 2018, Phinney decided to make his side forging debt documents, to bamboozle her into ing only a faxed copy, not the original. But the gig official. “I was having so much fun with this accepting a lower valuation of their communal deception couldn’t elude the font detective. “The work,” he says. “I also realized that it wasn’t a triv- property. Unfortunately for the soon-to-be ex-hus- band in Phinney’s Case of the Dastardly Divorce, TYPE CASES those faked documents were not only printed on a 600 dpi printer that didn’t exist at the time The Panama Papers THE FONT MAKER they were dated but were created in a font that wouldn’t have been available either. “That case One of the most high-profile forensic font cases involved international political corruption. The was slam-dunk easy,” says Phinney. As a type designer, Phinney has created numerous typefaces, including The other type of case Phinney commonly han- 2016 release of the Panama Papers, a collec- commissions for open-source typefaces from Google, private designs, and dles involves determining if documents meet typo- tion of leaked documents revealing illegal tax a handful that have seen commercial use in supplements to the Call of graphical legal requirements, like whether what havens for the wealthy, detailed a number of Cthulhu role-playing game. The publicly available ones: Phinney terms “the stupidly tiny” 5-point typog- offshore holdings held by Pakistan’s then-prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, including two compa- raphy on Justin Timberlake’s CD liner notes were nies listing Sharif ’s daughter, Maryam, as the Hypatia Sans Cristoforo sufficient to stand as public notification of others’ copyrights on the album. (Phinney suggested not. beneficial owner. Maryam defended herself with a document created using the Calibri font. 12 fonts // An Adobe original, with help 3 fonts // A digital revival of three classic Victorian The case was settled out of court.) Unfortunately for the Sharif family, that font from Paul Hunt. fonts, created as a Kickstarter project. Even for organizations trying to be good font wasn’t in general use until nearly a year after citizens, it can be challenging. “I feel for corpo- the purported date of the document. While The quick brown fox jumps The quick brown fox jumps rations, because legal typography requirements the internet buzzed with “fontgate,” Phinney, over the lazy dog can differ in every state,” Phinney says. California, over the lazy dog for instance, requires information on prescription an expert on Calibri’s timeline, posted the REGULAR typeface’s history on Quora and quickly found labels to be printed in at least a 12-point font, LIGHT The quick brown fox jumps himself an expert for global reporters. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog while that may not be the case in other jurisdic- tions. In New York, legal requirements for both over the lazy dog ITALIC font point size and height work a bit differently they were authentic—quite the contrary,” says LIGHT ITALIC the quick brown fox than those of any other state. “Which is just Phinney, speaking of the high-profile case that The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy another reason a lawyer might need to consult an ended with a public repudiation of the journalists expert,” notes Phinney. jumps over the lazy dog ORNAMENTS who ran with the story without authenticating REGULAR SCIENCE GOTHIC THE PERFECT CASE the forged documents first. So the hunt for the perfect case continues. The quick brown fox A variable typeface with hundreds of styles, based on Phinney ’s dream case is “one that has major Reflecting on his career, Phinney has a message jumps over the lazy dog Bank Gothic. Created for Google Fonts, with Vassil Kateliev and Brandon Buerkle. implications of some sort and exposes malfea- for anyone thinking of making a mid-career switch SEMI BOLD sance that affects a lot of people.” He had a to a vocation that has been tugging at them. close brush back in 2004, when he was asked by “I could have been embarrassed or ashamed The quick brown fox The quick brown fox journalists to examine memos related to Presi- to switch paths out of my corporate management jumps over the lazy dog jumps over the lazy dog dent George W. Bush’s service in the Texas Air career to something that, on the surface, wouldn’t BOLD LIGHT SEMI-EXTENDED National Guard that seemed to prove that Bush draw so broadly on my MBA training,” he says. The quick brown fox The quick brown fox had disobeyed orders and received outside help in cleaning up his military record. “Based on my “But I’m really glad I didn’t let those feelings deter me from doing what I wanted to do. Because I’m jumps over the lazy dog jumps over the lazy dog research I could not support a conclusion that still making money but having way more fun!” BLACK BOLD CONDENSED CONNECTIONS Phinney has fond memories of weekend The Takeaway 24 group project work, especially time spent with his most frequent collaborators, Raja Sundaram and Ashley Bryan, MBA 03s. “If you’re going to forge an old document, for goodness’ sake, just use Courier!” says Phinney. 25 Berkeley HAAS SPRING 2021
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