Autoimmune disorders have shaped my entire life. As a child, I was a frequent visitor to the emergency room due to atopy and breathing complications. Heavily medicated and struggling with the emotional toll of chronic illness, I nearly lost my life at 23. It's a miracle I’m still alive. By chance, I discovered a form of respiratory therapy, and with sheer determination, I ran my first mile at 24. This experience changed everything—I realized that improving my lung function expanded my ability to live fully.

Because of my hypersensitivity to environmental triggers, I developed an acute ability to detect common pollutants linked to asthma and autoimmune disorders. At 30, a friend was diagnosed with adult-onset asthma. When I visited their home outside Washington, D.C., I immediately sensed mold in the master bedroom. A stuck window was letting in humid air, leading to mold growth on the vaulted ceiling. I cleaned the room with a respirator, fixed the window, and repainted the ceiling. A decade later, my friend’s asthma was still gone.

During that project, I listened to Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, where he spoke about his unwavering belief that his deaf son would one day hear—leading him to discover early hearing aids. That moment solidified my mission: to help others suffering from autoimmune disorders just as I had suffered.

In 2012, I developed a device to monitor indoor, outdoor, and physiological factors contributing to asthma and respiratory issues. We navigated the patent process, won our university’s business plan competition, became finalists in the Verizon Powerful Answers Competition, and joined Halcyon House, an incubator for social entrepreneurs. However, we hit a wall with FDA approvals, patent office actions, and the misalignment of incentives in the healthcare system.

During this time, I discovered the work of Elizabeth Woods at Boston Children’s Hospital, whose community health programs reduced emergency room visits by 70–90% by educating families on asthma triggers in their homes. I visited programs doing similar things at Eastern Carolina University, Mercy Hospital, and King County, seeing firsthand their incredible impact through preventive health backed by the EPA, CDC, and NIH. Inspired me to continue to push the bounds of technology and apply to these programs, we developed the first-ever VR asthma empathy training, simulating what it feels like to experience asthma triggers in the home—an experience with 75% retention rates even a year later.

As medicine and technology evolved, my interest in finding the root cause of asthma and other autoimmune conditions expanded my interest in the microbiome, leaky gut, and epigenetics. Over the last two years, as CEO of an AI innovation group, I’ve become a subject matter expert in AI for efficiency, working alongside some of the brightest minds shaping the industry. With AI’s ability to process vast amounts of data, we now have a revolutionary way to analyze medicine, comorbidities, environmental toxins, and even the food we eat—all through a new, holistic lens.

With this fusion of mission-driven work and emerging technology, we have the most significant opportunity in history to understand how our environment impacts our health. Through Home Health Box, we provide research-grade tests and sensors to uncover hidden risks and push industries to reformulate harmful products.

Every person with—or at risk of—an autoimmune or epigenetically influenced chronic condition deserves the chance to live to their full potential. Just as I unlocked mine at 24, I hope Home Health Box will do the same for thousands of others.

I am incredibly grateful to the hundreds of people who have helped me on this journey. I would not be here without you.

— Matt Fischer