A Note From Our Founder

Hi, I'm Leo Grady, the Founder and CEO of Jona.

I believe that the microbiome is going to be a revolution in health.  Science shows that the microbiome is related to a massive range of diseases ranging from gut health to chronic conditions, such as autoimmune diseases, obesity, metabolic health, food allergies and even Parkinson’s Disease, mental health, sports performance and longevity.  Even more exciting, we are learning all the ways that the microbiome can be modified through changes in diet, lifestyle and medication. Truly understanding the microbiome will change how we think about health, leading to new diagnostics and whole new classes of treatments. Harnessing the microbiome may even allow us to cure some chronic diseases, improve athletic performance and extend human health span.

I grew up around microbiology. My father was a virologist and I loved going into the lab with him as a kid. My own path led me into artificial intelligence, doing my PhD in neural networks 20 years ago.  After my PhD, I immediately started working in the healthcare industry with a belief that AI could have broad impact to improve health. I built AI applications for many areas of medicine, including radiology, cardiology and pathology.  We brought multiple AI products through the FDA that are now standard of care in medicine. 

Several members of my family have suffered from chronic GI conditions such as Crohn’s Disease, Colitis, Celiac Disease and severe food allergies.  Some of my loved ones are still looking for answers and are managing their symptoms the best they can. All of them have gotten their microbiome tested, but the results they got were really disappointing. There were different scores that the companies made up and recommendations that weren’t backed up with any science. It seemed like the whole point of these tests was just to sell probiotics and it was especially frustrating because I was reading these amazing papers on the microbiome and all the doctors I worked with were excited about the microbiome. 

People call the microbiome a new organ.  If it’s a new organ then it’s not an organ like a heart or a kidney that you can see.  The microbiome is basically an organ of data and I believe that AI is the key technology to unlock the microbiome for health.  At Jona we’re basically building the MRI of the microbiome.  We’re at the beginning of this journey and we deeply appreciate the feedback, ideas and enthusiasm that we’ve received from our early customers.  Thank you so much for embarking on this journey together as we build toward a future where the microbiome is an integral part of medicine, where every person has access to their own personal microbiome and can make the decisions that optimize their health.

With appreciation,

Leo Grady, Founder and CEO