From Colombia to the forefront of global medical innovation, the founder and CEO of Samay is transforming personal loss into groundbreaking technology that could change millions of lives.
LATINO SYSTEM | LEADERSHIP & INNOVATION
Innovation often begins with a question. For Colombian physician, scientist, and entrepreneur Dr. María Artunduaga, that question emerged from a deeply personal tragedy: Could technology have helped save her grandmother’s life?
Today, Artunduaga is the founder and CEO of Samay, a medical technology company developing artificial intelligence-powered solutions designed to transform how respiratory diseases are detected and monitored.
Her journey from medical training in Colombia to building an internationally recognized healthcare technology company reflects a new generation of Latino innovators who are not simply participating in global industries but helping redefine them.
From Colombia to the World of Medicine
Born in Colombia’s Huila department, María Artunduaga developed an ambitious professional path grounded in medicine, science, and the desire to improve people’s lives.
She earned her medical degree from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, establishing the foundation for a career that would eventually take her to some of the most prestigious academic and medical institutions in the United States.
Her academic journey included postdoctoral research in human genetics at Harvard Medical School, a master’s degree in public health from the University of Washington, and advanced training in translational medicine through the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, San Francisco.
She also pursued plastic and reconstructive surgery training at the University of Chicago.
Her original ambition was to become a reconstructive surgeon, influenced in part by her desire to help patients facing significant physical challenges.
But life would redirect her career toward a different kind of medical innovation.
A Personal Loss That Inspired a Global Mission
The death of her grandmother, Sylvia, from complications associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) became a defining moment in Artunduaga’s life.
COPD is a progressive respiratory condition that affects millions of people worldwide. Patients can experience dangerous episodes of worsening symptoms, often requiring urgent medical intervention.
For Artunduaga, the tragedy exposed a critical gap in healthcare: patients lacked accessible tools to monitor changes in their lung function from home.
Rather than continuing along her established surgical career path, she made a bold decision to pursue the development of technology that could address this challenge.
That decision ultimately led to the creation of Samay, formerly known as Respira Labs.
Building Samay: When Artificial Intelligence Meets Human Health
The name Samay comes from Quechua, an Indigenous language of the Andes, and means “to breathe deeply.”
The company’s mission is to make respiratory monitoring more accessible, proactive, and effective through advanced technology.
At the center of its innovation is Sylvee, a wearable medical device designed to analyze respiratory function using acoustic resonance and artificial intelligence.
Unlike traditional pulmonary testing methods that often require specialized equipment and clinical supervision, Sylvee is being developed to help monitor respiratory health through a compact, noninvasive sensor.
By analyzing acoustic signals from the lungs, the technology aims to detect changes that may indicate respiratory problems, including complications associated with COPD and asthma.
The potential implications extend beyond individual patients. Technologies like Sylvee could eventually support healthcare professionals, researchers, and medical institutions seeking more consistent information about respiratory health outside traditional clinical environments.
For communities with limited access to specialized healthcare, such innovations could be particularly significant.
Although clinical development and regulatory requirements remain essential steps toward broader adoption, Samay’s work represents an important advance in the pursuit of more accessible respiratory care.
Breaking Barriers in Global Medical Technology
Building a medical technology company is challenging. It requires scientific validation, regulatory planning, significant investment, and the ability to translate complex research into practical healthcare solutions.
For a Latina physician entering an industry where women and underrepresented founders have historically faced substantial barriers, Artunduaga’s journey has carried additional significance.
Yet her company has emerged as an internationally recognized innovator.
In 2024, Samay won the prestigious MedTech Innovator Global Competition, becoming the first Latin America-based company to achieve that distinction.
The recognition helped establish the company as an important emerging player in medical technology.
Samay subsequently received further recognition, including honors in Colombia’s startup ecosystem and acknowledgment from organizations supporting scientific innovation and entrepreneurship.
In 2026, the Lemelson Foundation highlighted Artunduaga’s accomplishments and reported that Samay had expanded its intellectual property portfolio to 18 patents, with 19 additional applications pending.
These achievements reflect years of research, product development, investment, and collaboration across scientific and business disciplines.
More importantly, they demonstrate the growing international influence of Latin American innovation.
Leadership Beyond the Laboratory
Artunduaga’s impact extends beyond the technology she is developing.
As a physician-scientist turned entrepreneur, she represents a multidisciplinary approach to leadership that combines scientific expertise, business strategy, and a commitment to social impact.
Her professional experience also challenges traditional perceptions about who can lead a high-growth technology company.
Rather than allowing her identity or background to become limitations, she has embraced her Colombian heritage as part of her leadership philosophy.
She has also supported initiatives focused on mentoring underrepresented scientists, entrepreneurs, and women pursuing careers in innovation.
Her story illustrates an increasingly important reality: meaningful innovation does not emerge from one country, one institution, or one demographic group.
Talent is global, and opportunity should be equally expansive.
A Vision for Accessible Healthcare
For Artunduaga, the broader ambition behind Samay is not simply to develop a successful medical device.
It is to help create a healthcare system in which respiratory conditions can be identified and monitored earlier, potentially reducing preventable complications and improving patients’ quality of life.
That vision carries particular relevance for Latin America and other regions where access to specialized diagnostic services can be limited.
Her long-term objective includes expanding the reach of respiratory technology to populations that could benefit most from affordable, accessible monitoring tools.
As artificial intelligence continues to transform healthcare, entrepreneurs like Artunduaga are helping demonstrate how emerging technologies can be directed toward solving complex human problems.
But what distinguishes her work is the connection between technological innovation and personal purpose.
Behind every sensor, algorithm, and scientific advancement is the memory of a grandmother whose experience inspired a mission.
Redefining Latino Excellence
Dr. María Artunduaga’s journey represents much more than entrepreneurial success.
It is a story about resilience, intellectual ambition, cultural identity, and the courage to pursue an unconventional path.
From Colombia to Harvard, from surgical training to the global medical technology industry, she has built a career defined by the determination to turn knowledge into meaningful change.
Her achievements also serve as a powerful example for young Latino professionals considering careers in science, medicine, entrepreneurship, and technology.
As the world increasingly recognizes the contributions of Latino founders and innovators, Artunduaga stands among those helping shape the conversation.
Her story reminds us that leadership is not measured exclusively by financial success or professional recognition, but also by the problems we choose to solve and the lives we aspire to improve.
Dr. María Artunduaga is not simply building a medical technology company. She is helping create a future in which innovation, accessibility, and human compassion can work together to transform healthcare.
