The Incubator
A weekly discussion about new evidence in neonatal care and the fascinating individuals who make this progress possible. Hosted by Dr. Ben Courchia and Dr. Daphna Yasova Barbeau.
The Incubator
#338 - 🚀 The BiliHut: Rethinking Phototherapy with Portability and Precision
In this Tech Tuesday episode, Dr. Donna Brezinski, founder and CEO of Little Sparrows Technologies, joins the show to talk about the BiliHut — a portable, high-intensity phototherapy device designed to treat neonatal jaundice with both clinical effectiveness and practical usability in mind.
A neonatologist by training, Dr. Brezinski explains how her clinical experiences led to the development of the BiliHut, which delivers uniform phototherapy across the baby’s body while solving key issues like positioning errors, thermal regulation, and access for breastfeeding. Unlike traditional overhead lights or fiber-optic pads, the BiliHut is engineered for both hospital and home use, with versions adaptable to low-resource settings and unreliable power grids.
The conversation covers the physics behind its design, recent clinical data on treatment time, and deployment strategies from rural U.S. areas to clinics in Mongolia and Burundi. Dr. Brezinski also outlines how clinicians and families in the U.S. can access the device through durable medical equipment providers, visiting nurse agencies, or hospital DME programs.
More information about the BiliHut and its availability can be found at littlesparrowstech.com.
As always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below.
Enjoy!
