Soterya
About Soterya
Soterya is a Physical-AI company on a mission: to make autonomous, dignified care a reality — starting with the bed, the place where the highest-risk, highest-burden moments happen.
Our Story
Six patients lost to SUDEP. One unmet need. A team that built the world's first bed that physically moves a patient to save their life.
Chapter 01
At Brigham and Women's Hospital, epileptologist Dr. Jong Woo Lee kept losing patients to SUDEP — sudden death after a night-time seizure, face-down and unwitnessed. Six of his patients had died. Medications, wearables, and cameras couldn't close the gap, because none of them can do the one thing that saves a life in that moment: physically move the patient.
Chapter 02
Dr. Lee brought the unmet need to the BWH translational accelerator that Lina Williamson led. She saw what it could become — and connected him with Andres Rodriguez, whose robotics and actuation expertise could turn a clinical problem into a device.
Chapter 03
Together, Andres and Dr. Lee built Korus — the first bed that detects a prone position and autonomously repositions a patient. Lina and Valentina built the company around it: operations, strategy, and the grant wins — an Epilepsy Foundation award, NIH SBIR Phase I, then a $3M NIH SBIR Phase II. An epilepsy solution became a platform for autonomous care.
Chapter 04
As the platform proved itself, we found the same positioning crisis in elderly care — missed repositioning and bed-exit falls harming millions. We led with Korus Care, bringing the technology home first, grounded in clinical reality with advisors in geriatrics and physical therapy.
2018
Project inception at Brigham and Women's Hospital
2019
Soterya, Inc. incorporated
2020
Epilepsy Foundation Shark Tank award · $125K
2021
NIH NINDS SBIR Phase I · $503K
2024
NIH NINDS SBIR Phase II · $3M
2026
Patent granted; MVP ready for certification → pilots
Our Mission
We're starting where the need is greatest: autonomous repositioning across the full care continuum, from the home to the hospital. One platform, one roadmap, one purpose.
Leadership
A team that pairs Harvard / BWH clinical depth with serial-entrepreneur execution.
Co-Founder & CEO
Scientist-entrepreneur with 20+ years across translational medicine, strategic partnerships, and venture building. She identified commercializable innovation at Novartis, then founded a Translational Accelerator at Brigham and Women's Hospital that produced 7 startups and 2 licenses. She has helped build 12+ companies, including Emulate, Inc., and is a research fellow at MIT Catalyst.
Co-Founder, CCO & CPO
The inventor behind Korus. Blends industrial design, robotics, electronics, and simulation across medtech and consumer hardware — from Eveling to Emulate, Inc. to Hasbro. Recipient of Partners HealthCare's Excellence in Innovation Award (2019). His firsthand experience caring for aging parents shaped Korus from day one.
Co-Founder & Medical Director
Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and epileptologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital. A key opinion leader in SUDEP prevention, he co-invented Korus to reduce SUDEP risk and anchors its clinical and regulatory strategy. Also known for CT- and MRI-compatible EEG leads that transformed ICU EEG.
Co-Founder & Director of Operations
Leads operations and communications at Soterya. Communications professional specializing in paid media and digital strategy; formerly Paid Media Director at Seven Letter, with roles at the United Nations and TMA Precision Health. Master's in Digital Communication from Northeastern University.
The Team Building It
Embedded systems, ML & computer vision, robotics, and simulation.
Embedded Systems Engineer
Founding Engineer · Data Scientist & Software
ML & Computer Vision Engineer
Simulation & 3D Physics Engineer
Robotics & Mechanical Engineer
Embedded Software Design Engineer
Clinical Partners & Advisors
Geriatric medicine investigator · Clinical Director and Attending Geriatrician, Division of Aging, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Physical therapy investigator · Associate Professor of Physical Therapy, Brigham and Women's Hospital (Harvard Medical School)
Business advisor · Serial entrepreneur, seasoned CEO and investor
Tech, innovation licensing & startup inception expert · Former Brigham and Women's Hospital and Boston Children's Hospital
Partner Consultants
Regulatory
Finance
Legal
Why We're Credible
2019
Founded on a clinical insight at Brigham and Women's Hospital
$3.7M
Non-dilutive funding secured (NIH SBIR Ph1 + Ph2, Epilepsy Foundation)
US/EU/UK/AUS
Core patent granted, co-owned with Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard / BWH
Clinical leadership and ongoing clinical investigations
Join Us
If you want to build embodied AI that protects people at their most vulnerable, we'd love to meet you.
Work With Us
See Korus in action, partner with us, or back the round.