Wearable Ultrasound & Career in MedTech - Dr. Mai Elfarnawany | Ep. 15
Dr. Mai Elfarnawany — VP of Technology, Flosonics Medical
Dr. Mai Elfarnawany on FloPatch, a wireless ultrasound patch that tells clinicians within minutes whether a sepsis patient should get more fluids, and on growing from first engineer to VP.
Key Takeaways
An ultrasound you stick on
FloPatch is a wireless Doppler patch worn on the neck. A nurse can use it: nobody has to place and aim a probe. 3:48
Built for one decision
In sepsis it shows whether a patient is likely to respond to IV fluids, or whether more would risk fluid overload. 4:44
Machine learning only where it earns it
The pipeline stays engineered signal processing, with models added in the few places where they beat it. 24:54
Document as you go
Compliance got easier by writing things down with every change, automating tests end to end, and adopting new rules early. 30:31
Do the job before the title
Each promotion followed work she was already doing, and she had a mentor at every stage. 42:34
“One error in code is not just a website being down, it's the health of the patient.”
“Growth is really internal before it is external.”
Chapters
- 0:00Intro1 min
- 1:25From academia to industry2 min
- 3:07What FloPatch is3 min
- 6:35Why wearable ultrasound is possible now2 min
- 8:27Manufacturing in-house2 min
- 10:21From first engineer to team lead3 min
- 13:27Writing the first algorithms2 min
- 15:18A bedside device3 min
- 18:32Ultrasound for everyone?2 min
- 20:47Battery and computing3 min
- 23:36Where machine learning fits3 min
- 26:33AI agents in development3 min
- 29:23Staying compliant6 min
- 35:22From version 1.0 to today3 min
- 38:11Who she hires2 min
- 40:40Growing a career5 min
- 45:20Leaving the comfort zone5 min
- 50:05Finding mentors3 min
- 53:31Women in tech5 min
- 58:48What comes next8 min
Mentioned in This Episode
About this Guest
Dr. Mai Elfarnawany
VP of Technology, Flosonics Medical
Biomedical engineer leading the team behind FloPatch, the first wireless wearable Doppler ultrasound. She grew from sole software engineer to VP across a 20-person engineering organisation.