Antonella Sturniolo, MPH ’22, Develops the First Hormone- and Copper-Free IUD
How one researcher discovered entrepreneurship and public health can work together, with the help of BSPH support.
Following in her grandfather's footsteps, Sturniolo developed a unique intrauterine device that contains neither hormones nor copper.
Antonella Sturniolo, MPH ’22, founder and CEO of Upsilon Health, was completing her pre-medical school internships in neurosurgery and pathology at NYU when a recurring problem began to materialize. The Innovation Translation Council (ITC) is sharing her story.
“By the time you’re in the operating room with the neurosurgeon, that means something is wrong with you,” Sturniolo says. “How do we take a step back and analyze the systemic issues?”
Frustrated with the timeline for many of her patients, Sturniolo began to do some digging into her family’s legacy. Her grandfather, Samuel Soichet, was a well-recognized OB-GYN, and although he had passed away before Sturniolo was able to meet him, her dive into his research found that he was a pioneer in early IUD prototypes.
Inspired by her grandfather’s work, in 2015, Sturniolo began her own independent research. After meetings with her grandfather’s patients and in-depth market analyses, she identified a gap, asking: “Why don’t we have a hormone- and copper-free contraceptive option that is long-acting, reversible, and doesn’t force the body to adapt unnaturally?”
Sturniolo began to meet with an engineer who came as a recommendation from a colleague, who made her vision a reality. The relationship with her engineer, now chief technology officer, allowed Sturniolo to access expertise in medical devices and regulatory processes. Together, they assessed technical and clinical perspectives, with consideration for insights from a chief medical officer who had worked with her grandfather.
“Finding a good core team … that is number one,” says Sturniolo.
To build an effective core team, Sturniolo recommends a trial period with potential teammates to see how they work together. Team members should be motivated and believe in a common mission and generally, CEOs should oversee the company and take a creative approach, while a COO manages from an operations lens. Other members might be added depending on the product.
Sturniolo founded Upsilon in 2019. The only hormone- and copper-free IUD in development, the Upsilon IUD is marketed to “adapt to you, not the other way around.”
In order to legitimize her research, Sturniolo applied for her Master of Public Health degree at the Bloomberg School in 2020, with specializations in women’s and reproductive health and health systems and policy.
The one-year program gave her access to professors and mentors deeply embedded in the reproductive health sector and the information and motivation to continue her public health journey in the innovation sector.
“Hopkins gave me the push to believe in my purpose—to show that entrepreneurship and public health can work together,” she says.
While she attended Hopkins, many of the students in her cohort were physicians or more advanced health care professionals who wanted to learn how to bridge hospital systems and health care with entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation, but did not know where to start. Many of her peers began to ask her for advice, and she decided it would be beneficial for others in the Hopkins network to also be able to listen in. She was connected with the Pava Center and spoke with a few other Hopkins alumni who are founders to put together an entrepreneurship panel to help students consider commercialization of their research.
Sturniolo also created a practicum during her time at Hopkins that exposed students to grant writing, investor pitching, and storytelling with data. The practicum has been working with Hopkins students for three years and is currently actively recruiting for the current cohort.
The MPH gave Sturniolo’s research a sense of formality, validation from peers and mentors in the sector, and the confidence and community to scale her innovation, although hers was not the traditional public health path.
Sturniolo’s Innovation Timeline
2015–2018: Identified problems with current contraceptives
2018: Partnered with an engineer
2019: Designed improvements in insertion, removal, and sizing
2019: Began filing patents; incorporated Upsilon
2020–2021: Entered the Bloomberg School MPH program to formalize research
2025–2026: Upsilon prepares for preclinical trials
Along Sturniolo’s journey, she sought regulatory guidance and manufacturing connections, even drawing on her time working in Mexico City in family planning programs.
“There’s no playbook,” she says. “It was more just pitching our mission, reaching out to people, and seeing if they align with what we’re doing.”
Since her graduation, Sturniolo has shifted her focus to fundraising for Upsilon. Fundraising is challenging in general as a female founder, but in women's health it is especially difficult," she said. "Women's health companies get 2% of all funding, although this number is growing."
To public health investigators considering translating their findings to a market, Sturniolo offers this advice: “If you’re scared, it’s okay to be scared. Just start doing it.”
