She was a Harvard Medical school fellow. She never graduated from college, never designed a working medical device.
Sure, she got all sorts of credits and accolades once the fraud got started. She even fooled George Schultz, who was no dummy, for a long time, as well as the CEO of Walgreen’s. Very persuasive.
But, she clawed her way into that position. Was she lying from the very, very beginning, or just a few years into it? Who knows.
But being a psycho can be a very powerful advantage. And, I suppose, such a person would use any benefit laying around (such as female status) to further her aims.
The question for me is, was she mostly swept along on “favor the brilliant young woman” advantage, or did she generate most of the buzz herself. Certainly, both occurred, but I think she was the prime mover, using every advantage that came her way, rather than mostly being a beneficiary of reverse bias (let’s get a woman, any woman, into this position).