SonoFoundry
Open-source. 3D-printable. Affordable. Build your own neonatal POCUS training phantom.
Prototype phantom V0.6 — neonatal POCUS training
How it works
Ultrasound-guided neonatal lumbar puncture is technically demanding, high-stakes, and difficult to practice outside of an actual procedure. Our phantom is built to increase POCUS-guided procedural competency. Cast from gel tuned to approximate the echogenicity of neonatal soft tissue, our phantom gives your ultrasound machine something real to respond to: you see the vertebrae, watch the needle, and develop the hand-eye coordination and confidence that only comes from repeated practice. Because the phantom is physically small, durable, and doesn't require any special equipment beyond the probe you already own, it lives in your sim lab, your skills station, your call room, or wherever the learning happens.
Ready to build?
Download the free files, or let us send you a complete kit so you can start casting immediately.
See Pricing & Pre-order OptionsThe Team
Four colleagues. Two sides of campus. One shared goal to make POCUS training more accessible.
SonoFoundry is what happens when you put neonatologists and artists in the same room and refuse to let either side leave until something gets built. Two of us spend our days in NICUs, scanning the tiniest patients imaginable. Two of us spend our days in studios and fabrication labs, making things that didn't exist before.
We're open-source by conviction, not just by strategy. If you can build it yourself, you should. We'll be here when you want help, a kit, or a team to come train yours.
Paula Farrell, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics · Neonatology / UK College of Medicine
Paula brings deep clinical expertise in neonatal-perinatal medicine from UK's Level 4 NICU — one of the most complex care environments in the region. She knows firsthand what a trainee needs to hold a probe with confidence before they ever touch a real patient, and she's the reason SonoFoundry started with the neonatal cranial phantom instead of something easier.
Rupin Sharma, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics · Neonatology / UK College of Medicine
Rupin is an avid POCUS user and researcher whose work focuses on early detection of neonatal sepsis and hemodynamic monitoring. She trained at the University of Virginia and has been building toward a formal POCUS curriculum for neonatology fellows — SonoFoundry is the hands-on training infrastructure that curriculum needs to work at scale.
Chad Eby, MFA
Assistant Professor · Art Studio, Film, Video & Sonic Art / UK College of Fine Arts
Chad is an artist, designer, researcher, and teacher who brings experience in human-centered design, digital fabrication, embedded development coupled with studio art making skills that help transform medical training problems into elegant, reproducible artifacts. He holds an MA in Communication and an MFA in Imaging and Digital Art.
Dmitry "Dima" Strakovsky, MFA
Associate Professor · School of Art & Visual Studies / Executive Director, Creative Link / University of Kentucky College of Fine Arts
Dima leads Creative Link for Advancing Digital Health — UK's initiative connecting artists, designers, and technologists with healthcare teams.