Matthew Rabinowitz

Matthew Rabinowitz (born 4 February 1973) is an engineer, entrepreneur and founder of Natera, a genetic testing company based in San Carlos, California. Rabinowitz completed his B.A., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees at Stanford University. He is the founder of Panopticom, an e-commerce startup that was sold for more than $100 million in 2000, Rosum Corporation, which developed a technology using TV signals to augment GPS, and Natera, which specializes in analyzing microscopic quantities of DNA for reproductive health indications including non-invasive prenatal testing.
Early life and education
Rabinowitz grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. His father was Chief of Surgery at Baragwaneth Hospital. His mother was also a medical doctor and an alternative medicine practitioner. In addition she was a Senator in the post-apartheid South African government.
Rabinowitz attended the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in South Africa (1991) for a year and half. He received a scholarship to attend Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA in 1992 and graduated with a B.A in Physics and an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering in 1996. He was presented with the Levine Award and Terman Award for outstanding research and academics in the Department of Physics and the School of Engineering. He was granted a graduate fellowship to the Stanford School of Engineering, and went on to complete a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering.
Career
Panopticon Inc. (1998-2000)
In 1998 Rabinowitz co-founded Panopticon, an intelligent online merchandising company, which sold for $100 million in 2000.
Rosum Corporation (2000-2004)
In 2000 he founded the Rosum Corporation and became the CEO, and the CTO a few years later. Rosum developed a location technology using digital TV signals to augment GPS for positioning indoors and urban areas where GPS signal is not active.
Natera Inc. (2005-present)
In 2003 his sister’s child was born with Down Syndrome, and passed away soon after. This prompted him to assemble a team of experts in medicine, engineering, data analytics, and genetics to research and develop a non-invasive screening test for this condition.
Natera is a genetic testing company that develops and commercializes non-invasive methods for analyzing cell-free DNA. Natera has commercialized five genetic screening tests that support decision-making in the prenatal setting. The best known of these tests is Panorama—a noninvasive screening test that relies upon SNP technology, to uniquely distinguish fetal and maternal DNA, which provides families information on their baby’s risk for common aneuploidies such as Down Syndrome, and microdeletions such as the 22q syndrome. Natera also offers the Horizon test that screens for the carrier status for up to 274 conditions in the preconception or prenatal settings, to assess the risk to the child being affected by one of these conditions. Natera is currently developing technologies for the early detection and treatment of certain cancers.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu