Two Scientists to Lead AI Research, Clinical Trials at Sparrow BioAcoustics

Sparrow BioAcoustics has added two scientists to its leadership team: Yulia Chaikin, Ph.D., as head of Clinical Trials and Nick Pogrebnyakov, Ph.D., as head of AI and Data Science.

The appointments aim to accelerate the development and availability of Sparrow BioAcoustics’ key product, the Stethophone.
 
“Yulia and Nick bring important skills to Sparrow as we work to make the Stethophone the cardiac and pulmonary monitor that is always with you,” Sparrow BioAcoustics CEO Mark Opauszky said. “We’re excited to have them on our growing team.”
 
Dr. Chaikin joined Sparrow BioAcoustics in September 2021 as the head of QA/RA. Since then, she was promoted to head of Clinical Affairs in addition to her QA/RA responsibilities. Dr. Chaikin began her career as a lead scientist and clinical research associate for CartiHeal in Israel. She then spent three years at Alentic Microscience in Nova Scotia, working in research and development as a senior project manager. Dr. Chaikin earned a Ph.D. and master of science degrees from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. She earned her bachelor of science degree from the School of Chemistry, Faculty of Exact Sciences at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is a certified project management professional.
 
Dr. Pogrebnyakov joined Sparrow in May 2023. Previously, he was a senior machine learning engineer with Twitter in Toronto. Earlier, Dr. Pogrebnyakov worked as an associate professor of International Business at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, where he conducted research and taught technology and business strategy courses. In February 2021, Dr. Pogrebnyakov founded DegreesAbove.org, a Canadian climate data provider. Dr. Pogrebnyakov earned a Ph.D. in information sciences and technology from Pennsylvania State University and both a master of science and bachelor of sicence degrees in mathematics and computer Science from the Belarusian State University for Informatics and Radioelectronics in Minsk, Belarus.

“I’m excited by Sparrow’s mission, saving lives and helping improve people’s health. We’re working to improve the quality of life with the help of AI,” Dr. Pogrebnyakov stated.

Stethophone is the world’s only software as a medical device (SaaMD) app that enables a smartphone to be used as a clinical-grade stethoscope to monitor the sounds of the heart and lungs. It records these sounds, allowing them to be shared securely with care team members. Stethophone needs no add-ons to plug in, connect, or charge up. Clinical tests conducted by Sparrow concluded that Stethophone performs better than industry-standard stethoscopes in cardiac and pulmonary auscultation. Earlier this year, Sparrow BioAcoustics received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make the Stethophone application available to medical professionals and emergency medical technicians. More recently, Sparrow received approval from the State Service of Ukraine for Medicines and Drugs Control to make the Stethophone app available to medical professionals, patients, and their families.

Sparrow’s Stethophone employs advanced acoustic processing and proprietary algorithms to make smartphones function as class-leading stethoscopes and FDA-cleared Class II medical devices. Only Stethophone can distill accurate heart and lung sounds using a smartphone’s internal microphone. Stethophone captures and helps analyze this diagnostically rich data and makes it securely shareable with other members of the care team. Stethophone makes it possible to gain insight into the structural condition of the heart and lungs wherever and whenever a patient experiences symptoms. 

Sparrow BioAcoustics, with offices in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia; and Toronto; is leading the SaaMD industry in new directions for cardiac and pulmonary detection and monitoring.