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UNITED STATES – Fast-growing AI Medtech company Hyfe has, today, announced the appointment of world-renowned Seattle-based physician and scientist Dr. Peter Small to the role of Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Small, a passionate advocate for improving patient care through innovative digital solutions, has decades of experience in respiratory medicine, applied research, and the provision of high-tech healthcare worldwide. Hyfe is pioneering acoustic epidemiology, using machine learning algorithms to detect cough to allow patients and providers to unobtrusively monitor cough frequency, providing real-time insights into individual and community health. A global expert in infectious diseases, epidemiology, and global health, Dr. Small will help shape the company’s direction in the coming years, forging partnerships with organizations and individuals to validate and deploy the technology to improve human health. He will also help guide Hyfe’s remote clinical trials as well as promote patient empowerment through remote monitoring of symptoms and more.
Dr. Small has a long history of bringing innovation to health care. Early in his career, he was a medical resident and chief medical resident at UCSF at the dawn of the HIV epidemic. He subsequently joined the faculty of Stanford University Medical School. There, Dr. Small was a pioneer in the field of molecular epidemiology, publishing papers that helped to shape the public health response to the resurgence of tuberculosis.
In 2002, Dr. Small was one of the earliest leaders at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he developed their tuberculosis strategy, built the foundation’s core partnerships and country programs, and oversaw a large portfolio of vaccine, drug and diagnostic product development and deployment. In 2011, he relocated to India where he established the foundation’s collaborative tuberculosis program. Subsequently, he joined Stony Brook University as the Founding Director of the University-wide Global Health Institute focused on the use of technology to deliver health care in remote Madagascar and Nepal.
Respiratory diseases are among the leading causes of death and disability in the world. WHO statistics reveal that around 334 million people suffer from asthma worldwide, while millions die prematurely every year from tuberculosis, pneumonia, lung cancer, and other respiratory illnesses. Hyfe was founded in 2020 with the objective to build acoustic tools for respiratory diagnostics and monitoring. In just over a year since its launch, the Hyfe platform is used daily by researchers, medical professionals as well as thousands of regular people all over the world.
Hyfe's technology is built using the world’s largest and fastest growing cough dataset, improved upon continuously via machine learning, and vetted extensively through partnerships with clinical researchers around the world
Commenting on the appointment of Dr. Small as Chief Medical Officer, Hyfe Co-Founder and CEO Joe Brew said:
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Peter Small to the team as our CMO. This is a very exciting time for Hyfe, and Peter’s decades of experience developing and deploying innovative health solutions globally make him the perfect fit for our capabilities. With Peter onboard, Hyfe is poised to empower patients and providers to remotely monitor health.”
Commenting on joining the team at Hyfe, Dr. Peter Small said:
“It’s ironic how much people focus on counting steps while ignoring cough, which is far more consequential. Hyfe is a science-driven company with the technology to make cough count. Particularly now, with increased awareness of cough and the rapid growth of digital health driven by Covid-19, this technology can improve the lives of patients, the care provided by doctors, and the efficiency of health systems.”
