Who We Are
Jacob Schreiber (2005-2024) was a brilliant, kind, and talented student at Brown University when, in the summer of 2024, he died by suicide.
At the time of his death, Jake had found his community among like-minded students on campus and was looking forward to declaring a physics major with a concentration in astronomy. He had developed his compositional skill and passion for electronic music to a high level: headphones on, composing, Jake could spend hours lost in creative flow, and here, too, he found community, collaborating with DJs and other professionals all over the world. He was a varsity tennis player through high school and a beautiful skier who adored winter breaks in the mountains of the American West.
Jake was a kind and devoted big brother and son, grandson, cousin, and friend. He had grown up deeply rooted in family, and supported in health and happiness. He wore his giftedness lightly; he was caring, witty, and gracious. Jake knew joy. Jake shared joy. Jake was thriving.
The staggering mismatch between the richness of Jake’s life, just opening onto full-fledged adulthood, and the unanticipated crisis that led to his death, leaves a gap beyond grief.
Simply put, we believe that there is information to be learned from this gap that will save lives.
Recent developments in neuroscience and psychological research have yielded insight into the ways certain young people’s brains respond to crisis moments that affect everyone at some point in life, such as the loss of a relationship or a treasured opportunity. Heartbreak, a rite of passage for almost every teen, for some young people proves fatal. In fact, rejection of many kinds can prove insurmountable for this group. By examining how a neurodivergent brain processes rejection and moves toward negative urgency—deploying, impulsively, in the service of pain, all the talent and power others will have observed in school, say, or sports, or music, or art—researchers have identified interventions that can save lives.
But there is very little funding for such work, and indeed moving from clinical observations and those made in laboratories to focused interventions in real-world settings requires time, investment, and coordination. Jake Collective is dedicated to this work.
Among all of his intellectual pursuits, Jake was most passionate about black holes. They are so enormous, so annihilating, so famously impossible to understand that we use the term “black hole” as shorthand for something the human mind cannot comprehend. Jake, however, saw a way in. He’d have stayed up all night explaining them to you: their beauty, their singularity, their infinitude.
We, following the lead of his curiosity and brilliance, will continue to cast light on the seemingly impenetrable darkness of young neurodivergent minds in acute distress. To the young people who are “masking,” appearing, in their achievements and sociability, to be without internal conflict; to the young people who believe that their brains are somehow different, even though science has not yet delivered a description that serves: We see you. We support you. We are developing the teams, tools, and information that will help you to thrive.
In this way we honor Jake and the great gift of his life.
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Lori & Zach Schreiber
Co-Founders, Jake Collective
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Lori Schreiber, Jake’s mom, has spent more than two decades in service to her community in New York City, working with young people and for educational, hospital and community settings. As a member of Weill Cornell Medicine’s Board of Fellows, she serves on the Membership & Governance and Women’s Health Council Executive Committees. Her service to education includes trusteeship of the Dalton School and leadership, as Co-Chair, of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the School of Human Ecology at Cornell University; she formerly served on the Dean’s Advisory Council for Brown University School of Public Health. She was for several years a trustee of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, and she is a current trustee of the Natan Fund. She is also actively involved with the Girls Leadership Organization and the Harlem Children’s Zone. Lori is a graduate of Cornell University and received her MBA from Columbia University.
Zach Schreiber, Jake’s dad, is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Investment Officer of PointState Capital, which he co-founded in 2011. A graduate of Brown University, he has been a University Trustee and has served on the President’s Leadership Council and as a member of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs Board of Governors. His broad-ranging philanthropic work includes his position as a long-standing board member and passionate advocate for the Harlem Children’s Zone.
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Melissa Floren Filippone, CFA
CEO, Jake Collective
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With almost three decades of experience in health care investment, research, and entrepreneurship, Melissa leads Jake Collective across all functions. She is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University who spent her early career as a healthcare equity research analyst at RS Funds, Janus Capital, and DCF Capital. She left investing to help launch Navigenics, a Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers company that was a pioneer in the field of personal genomics. When the company was sold to Life Technologies (now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific), Melissa moved on to lead business development and strategy teams for health care startups focused on community and employee health. A lifelong friend of the Schreiber Family, Melissa has known and loved Jake since the day he was born.