While STEM runs in her blood, building things that have an impact and help people are true to her heart.
Meet Caitlin Schneider: Sonic Incytes’ Lead Clinical Engineer, who helped build Velacur, the first handheld 3D liver health assessment solution, in the lab with leading experts in medical ultrasound imaging Dr. Tim Salcudean and Dr. Robert Rohling.
“I’ve always liked the idea of combining medicine and engineering to help people,” explains Caitlin. “Growing up I was surrounded by excellent role models. With both my parents in engineering and other family members in medicine, it was a natural decision to choose engineering as my career.”
After completing her Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2009, she moved to Canada, and earned her Masters in Applied Sciences and PhD in electrical engineering from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 2011 and 2017 respectively.
Working in the UBC lab with Drs. Salcudean and Rohling, Caitlin’s research focused on ultrasound elastography, surgical robotics and the integration of the two subjects. These research projects eventually led to the birth of Velacur, which can quantitatively measure the underlying properties of tissue. As its first indication of use, Velacur measures both liver steatosis and fibrosis, with greater depth and volume than the current standard of care.
In 2017, Sonic Incytes Medical Corp. was formed to commercialize the technology, and Caitlin joined the team as Lead of Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs in 2018.
“Not many research projects survive outside the lab. Developing Velacur as a real medical device, securing FDA clearance in 2020, and now seeing it adopted by leading US clinical centres of excellence are significant career milestones for me,” states Caitlin.
During her career, Caitlin has published her research in 7 peer reviewed journals, at more than 15 conferences, and is an inventor on 4 patents.
Caitlin currently designs, initiates and monitors Velacur clinical trials and other clinical development opportunities. She is also in charge of the development of training programs for new users and has coordinated the development and introduction of new features.
When you’re ready to transform your practice with Velacur, Caitlin can show you how.
