KappaHealth Founder and CEO, Lorien Zhu presented her first offline pitch competition on Sept. 16, 2025. Credit: Courtesy of Tom Rutledge
Lorien Zhu, a first-generation, second-year in philosophy and physics, is reinventing wellness through wearable technology with her solo venture, KappaHealth.
KappaHealth focuses on mental health care through magnetic sensing and adaptive sound therapies. By developing a wearable field of technology that tracks centered therapies, combining different sensor technologies, the device is able to monitor stress, fatigue and overall mental overload in real time, Zhu said.
Zhu said her goal is to make mental health care as accessible and as affordable as possible through advanced diagnostics.
“I really wanted something empirical for people to see, so that is why I looked into the wearable field and thought, maybe we need a wearable [device] to detect our physiological conditions and help people realize ‘This is my psychological state,’” Zhu said. “In that point and time, this psychological condition can inform what a good therapy is for me.”
As a climber and backpacker, Zhu said she understands the importance of mental stability for athletes. There are two ends to the spectrum for users, however — athletes and those with neurological conditions, such as autism and ADHD.
Zhu said it’s important to understand both, as she has also grown up working with kids that have autism.
“I really got into this wearable, mental health stage because I know for athletes how our mental stage impacts our physical performance — I know it’s so crucial,” Zhu said. “I also grew up volunteering with kids with autism and I got to know [that] each one individual is so different from each other, that they may have really different responses to sounds. Some may reply to really loud and fine-tune sounds, some may have weaker sounds. They are all so different, and I know if I am going to provide therapy for them, really one that suits their mind, I really need to provide something that is incredibly individualized.”
Current wearable technologies often face limitations and struggle to accurately detect stress levels, Zhu said. KappaHealth’s product is based on detecting the proper stress level and depicting the tailored sound therapy, said Asimina Kiourti, a professor in the electroscience laboratory, specializing in the Wearable Implantable Technologies Group.
“There are few devices in the market or in the literature that try to measure stress based on individual or combined biomarkers. Examples include heart rate, heart rate variability, electrodermal activity — sweat — and sometimes even skin temperature. Note these are all indirect measures of stress so research is ongoing about developing an optimal device and model to sense stress and quantify it,” Kiourti said.
Kiourti said the transition between lab-based simulations to real-world application can be crucial in testing a product of this magnitude. She said there is need for human testing to account for the accuracy of this brand and device.
“Through validation of several of the technical components begins with the simulations or testing on tissue — emulating media, one would eventually need extensive testing on human subjects to capture the variability not only across subjects but also within subjects over the course of time,” Kiourti said.
Though KappaHealth is still in its early stages, Zhu said she envisions expanding into broader mental health ecosystems — including partnerships with professional athletes to highlight the importance and connection between mental and physical health.
“I do think we’re going to be one union in this field because we’re the first company out there combining therapy plus diagnosis,” Zhu said. “I do think this will be informing in some ways, but I am also looking for ways to really engage people with physical performance and wellness. If we can build a brand image with pro athletes, we may be able to integrate our brand into physical health.”
