Our story
In many countries, expanded carrier screening is a routine part of family planning. It’s a simple test that tells prospective parents whether they share genetic variants that could affect their children. In Switzerland, that option has rarely been accessible: awareness is limited, and testing has not been easy to access from home. Deena Health exists to change that.
Deena Health was born from a vision shared by Claire, Sasha, and Isis. Each coming from a different background, they arrived at the same realization:
Every family deserves the information to make empowered choices before pregnancy, not after.
Dr. Isis Atallah
Medical geneticist & family physician
Isis’s focus on carrier screening was shaped directly by her clinical practice. With dual training as a family physician and a medical geneticist, she has spent years guiding patients through complex diagnoses at the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and her own practice, UNIQUE. During that time, she met healthy parents who only discovered they carry the same recessive gene after their child was diagnosed with a severe condition. There needs to be a better way.
Sasha Melkonyan
Computational Biologist & Startup Founder
Sasha, meanwhile, has spent the last five years developing therapies for rare genetic diseases. Through his research at the University of Zurich, he developed a novel technique for treating inherited liver diseases and co-founded Nerai Biosciences to bring these discoveries to patients. Yet experiencing the immense effort required to develop a treatment for just one genetic disease led him to a practical conclusion: trying to cure the 5,000 known genetic conditions one by one is not a sustainable solution. A preventive approach is essential.
Claire Barton
Genetic counsellor, MS, CGC
Claire brings a strong dedication to medical genetics. After earning her degree in genetic counselling from Stanford University, she began her career at Boston Medical Center, helping patients understand their genetic health. When she relocated to Switzerland, she saw the opportunity to bring that same standard of care here.
Today, Deena Health is the culmination of their combined expertise. With this test, they hope to make proactive genetic screening a standard, accessible part of family planning in Switzerland.