When Boston University sophomore Kevin Kasozi Nkutu Kirunda was 17 years old, he watched his high school soccer coach, Coach Kane, battle colorectal cancer.
To show support, the school wore white t-shirts with “#KaneStrong” written in blue, the color of colorectal cancer awareness. When Coach Kane died, Kirunda said he felt he had no choice but to act.
“I see a problem, and I’m a problem solver,” Kirunda said. “It doesn’t matter what it takes. I’ll stay up late, I’ll miss out on certain events, just to find a solution to something I really care about.”
Kirunda is the founder and CEO of SOZI AI, a digital health platform with the purpose of preventing colorectal cancer before it starts.
The name of the platform comes from his Ugandan name, Kasozi, which means “mountain.” The company’s tagline is “where intelligence meets elevation.”
Colorectal cancer is currently the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among people under 50 in the United States. However, for most people, the CDC still only recommends colorectal cancer screenings for those over 45 years old.
While most people with colon cancer are over the age of 50, a growing number of younger people have been diagnosed with the disease.
SOZI AI’s platform, titled The Final Stretch, combines health coaching with gamification to educate people on colorectal cancer.
It asks users about habits, such as diet and smoking, before funneling them into what Kirunda described as a “quest arena,” where they can complete fitness challenges, take quizzes about colorectal health and earn points toward a leaderboard with customizable features.
Central to the platform is Gus, an AI companion that users can ask questions to, request new challenges from and personalize with unlockable accessories. The information Gus draws from is sourced directly from the American Cancer Society, the CDC and the World Health Organization.
The platform is careful, however, to draw a clear line. Gus explicitly reminds users that it is not a doctor and that nothing on the platform constitutes a medical diagnosis or treatment.
BU Senior Pranav Dixit, who serves as a tech lead for SOZI AI, said preventing Gus from presenting false claims has been a part of the team’s development process to improve credibility and strengthen the platform as a whole.
“I think one time it got something from Reddit, and we were like, ‘don’t do that,’” Dixit said. “We’re still really in the early phases of implementing it, but we are definitely looking towards giving it the best information.”
Another key feature SOZI is adding to the platform is Stretch Fuel, a restaurant locator that grades nearby dining options based on their colorectal health implications. The tool uses data from health authorities to score restaurants, Dixit said.
Dixit said Stretch Fuel will classify and rank different food options to encourage users to minimize their colorectal cancer risk. He said the full implementation is still in progress.
Kirunda said balancing the startup’s demands with schoolwork has required him to operate on a separate “CEO schedule.”
“I kind of have two different schedules,” he said. “I’ve never done that in my life, but it’s definitely helped a lot.”
The motivation to keep going, he said, goes beyond Coach Kane. Kirunda said he has lost family members to colorectal cancer, and he was struck at 17 when he learned that actor Chadwick Boseman had privately battled stage four colon cancer while continuing to work.
“There’s so many people I have to do this for,” Kirunda said. “And I’m just going to keep going because of that.”
BU Junior Christian Johnson, another tech lead at SOZI AI, said the team is hoping to eventually release the app on the App Store.
Kirunda said the long-term plan for SOZI AI is to eventually personalize gamified health coaching for other diseases as well.
But for now, he said, the mission is clear.
“We’re trying to prevent youth colorectal cancer before it starts,” Kirunda said. “That’s our principle.”
