Meet Matt,
jscreen CEO

I met my wife Myra through my younger sister when they were both students and teammates at Dartmouth. Years later, after a cross-country friendship slowly became something more, we built a life together — a Philly girl and a California boy finding their way through Boston, medicine, marriage, and eventually parenthood. In 2018, our daughter Havi was born. Her name comes from the Hebrew words for life, and from the very beginning she brought extraordinary light into our world. Just before her first birthday, after months of searching for answers, Havi was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease — a devastating diagnosis made even more shocking because we believed we had already been properly screened. We later learned a physician ordering error had resulted in a false negative carrier test.

Havi lived for 13 months after her diagnosis. During that time, Myra and I made a decision that transformed how we experienced grief and love. Every Friday night became “Shabbirthday” — a celebration of Havi’s life filled with family, music, cake, laughter, tears, and deep presence. As she gradually lost abilities to crawl, eat, see, and move, we chose not to focus on what was disappearing, but on surrounding her with beauty, warmth, and love. We danced with her every night, carried her to sunsets and the ocean, and learned that even in heartbreak there can still be joy, connection, and meaning. Havi died peacefully in our home in January 2021, surrounded completely by love.

In the years since losing Havi, our family has continued forward with purpose and hope, and we have since welcomed three healthy children into our lives. Eventually, that journey led me to jscreen. Today, I have the privilege of helping other families access the genetic screening and education that could spare them unimaginable loss. The work is deeply personal to me because every day at jscreen, I get to be Havi’s dad — honoring her life by helping build healthier futures for other families and communities.