Ong’s work on AyrFlo intervention featured in Madison Magazine

Over the last few years, Irene Ong, PhD, of the UW Ob-Gyn Division of Reproductive Sciences, has been working with clinician-scientists in the SMPH Departments of Anesthesiology and Radiology to develop a device that could identify respiratory distress earlier.

An article in the November 2021 issue of Madison Magazine introduces the team behind AyrFlo, tracks their progress in developing the device, and highlights some funding victories – and unexpected pandemic challenges:

“In 2017, they won WARF Accelerator Phase I Funding , making Bilen-Rosas and Ong the first women from the medical school to ever win. In July 2019, they received a Phase II award from WARF’s accelerator program. This allowed them to take their prototype to sedation patients — and into the operating room that fateful day. Sixteen more patients followed — then COVID-19 hit, effectively halting the case studies.”

Read the whole article here!