Rebecca_Richards-Kortum

Rebecca Richards-Kortum
Rebecca Richards-Kortum (born April 14, 1964) is

an American bioengineer and the Malcolm Gillis Rebecca Richards-Kortum
University Professor at Rice University. She is a Born April 14, 1964
professor in the departments of Bioengineering and Grand Island, Nebraska
Electrical and Computer Engineering, and she is the Nationality American
Director of Rice 360°: Institute for Global Health, and Education University of Nebraska at Lincoln
the Founder of Beyond Traditional Borders.[1] She is (BS)
the Director of the Institute of Biosciences and Massachusetts Institute of
Bioengineering, and serves as the advisor to the Technology (MS)
Provost on health-related research. Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (PhD)
Richards-Kortum is the recipient of the Pierre Galletti
Award, the highest honor from the American Institute Awards 1999: Y.C. Fung Young
for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), for Investigator Award, American
her contributions to global health care and Society of Mechanical
bioengineering technology. Engineers,
1991: Presidential Young
Investigator, National Science
Early life Foundation,

1992: Presidential Faculty
Richards-Kortum grew up in Grand Island, Fellow, National Science
Nebraska.[2] She enjoyed math and science in Foundation,
elementary school and attended University of 1992: Becton Dickinson Career
Achievement Award, Association
Nebraska-Lincoln after high school. Due to a dearth of
women mentors and role models, she initially aspired for the Advancement of Medical
to be a high school math and science teacher upon her Instrumentation,
2004: Sharon Keillor Award for
graduation. Her trajectory changed after graduating
Women in Engineering
with highest distinction in physics and mathematics,
Education, American Society for
when she considered PhD programs after being
Engineering Education,
exposed to undergraduate research. She attended
2007: Chester F. Carlson Award,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a
American Society for
master's degree in physics in 1987 and a doctorate in
Engineering Education,
medical physics in 1990.[3]
2008: Vice President
Recognition Award, Institute of
Electrical and Electronics
Career and research Engineers (IEEE),
2010: Pritzker Distinguished
Richards-Kortum began her academic career at The
Scientist and Lecturer,
University of Texas at Austin in the electrical and
Biomedical Engineering Society
computer engineering department, where she rose
(BMES),
through the ranks from assistant, to associate, to full
2011: Celebrating Women in
professor. She then joined the faculty of Science Award, BioHouston,
bioengineering at Rice University, earning the rank of Inc.,
University Professor, which means she can teach in 2012: Women Leaders in
any academic department and across disciplines.[3] Medicine Award, American
Medical Student Association,
Richards-Kortum specializes in creating new 2016: Pierre Galletti Award,
technologies to provide health care to vulnerable American Institute for Medical
populations, including methods for diagnosis of and Biomedical Engineering
cancers, methods for treating jaundice in newborns, (AIMBE),
and a bubble continuous positive airway pressure 2014: Michael S. Feld
machine for premature infants unable to breathe on Biophotonics Award, Optical
their own.[4] Society of America,
2014, 2016: George R. Brown
After learning that many people lacked access in early Award for Superior Teaching,
screening options for cancer, she developed a low-cost Rice University,
battery imaging system that could detect premalignant 2018: U.S. Science Envoy, U.S.
tissues without a biopsy. This innovation was further State Department,
expanded to detect oral cancer, cervical cancer, and 2018: Finalist, MacArthur
reduce biopsies for about 90 percent of patients with Foundation 100&Change
benign esophageal cancer lesions.[5] Her laboratory Competition
works to advance nanotechnology and molecular
Scientific career
imaging in order to develop portable and inexpensive
Fields Bioengineering
optical imaging systems. It can monitor a patient's
response to therapy [6] as well as evaluate the Institutions Rice University
boundaries of the tumor. Doctoral Michael Stephen Feld
advisor
In 2005, she noticed the lack of resources in terms of
equipment and infrastructure for premature babies in
impoverished areas. With another faculty member at Rice University, she created the Rice 360° Institute
for Global Health where she developed low-power devices at a low cost. The institute has created a
myriad of solutions ranging from Pumani CPAP system which works to help newborns who have
breathing problems, BiliSpec, a diagnostic tool for jaundice that measures bilirubin levels, and
DoseRight, a solution for precise administration of liquid medication to children.
In addition, she co-founded Beyond Traditional Borders, which is a curriculum for undergraduates to turn
classroom content into solutions for global health. Through the course, students are tasked with building a
technology that responds to a global health need as a part of a capstone project. Through this class, she
has worked with students to create an LED based phototherapy lights and positive airway pressure
machines.[7]
Publications
She is the author of the textbook Biomedical Engineering for Global Health (Cambridge University Press,
2010) and the author or co-author of over 315 research papers, 13 book chapters, and 40 patents.[1]
Honors and awards

In 2018, Richards-Kortum was selected as one of five US scientists to serve in the US Department of
State as a US Science Envoy for Health Security.[8] Through this position, she will focus on expanding
American engineering research to Africa to build more capacity for collaborations.
She is also the 2017 finalist of the MacArthur Foundation grant where she received millions of dollars for
her team to develop and implement their neonatal technology that is estimated to prevent over 85 percent
of newborn deaths in Africa.
In recognition of her work, Richards-Kortum received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2016.[9] She was
elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2008 and the National Academy of Sciences and the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015.
In 2016 she received the Pierre Galletti Award, the highest honor from the American Institute for Medical
and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), for her contributions to global health care and bioengineering
technology. In her Pierre Galletti address to the AIMBE, she noted that the biggest career-transition
gender disparity occurs at the graduate student/postdoc-to-assistant professor step, and she challenged the
leaders in bioengineering to encourage women to pursue academic positions, especially at the "20th mile"
of the academic "marathon."[10]
She was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2017.[11]
In 2014 Richards-Kortum was awarded the Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award from The Optical
Society for her "exceptional contributions to advancing the applications of optics in disease diagnosis and
inspiring work in disseminating low-cost health technologies to the developing world."[12]
In 2008, she was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and received a grant for the
undergraduate global health program at Rice. This program won the science prize for Inquiry-Based
Instruction from Science magazine and the Lemelson-MIT Award Global Innovation.
She was also listed on Fortune magazine's list of 50 World's Greatest Leaders[13]
References
1. "Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Ph.D. | Bioengineering | Rice University" (http://bioengineering.r
ice.edu/faculty/rebecca_richards-kortum.aspx). Rice University. Retrieved 21 September
2019.
2. Undergrad work put alumna on 'genius' award path | Nebraska Today | University of
Nebraska–Lincoln (http://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/undergrad-work-put-alumna
-on-genius-award-path/) Retrieved 2017-08-06.
3. Viegas, Jennifer (2016). "Profile of Rebecca Richards-Kortum" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.go
v/pmc/articles/PMC5098615). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113 (44):
12341–12343. Bibcode:2016PNAS..11312341V (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016PN
AS..11312341V). doi:10.1073/pnas.1616449113 (https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.1616449
113). PMC 5098615 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5098615).
PMID 27791194 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27791194).
4. "MacArthur Fellows: Meet the Class of 2016: Rebecca Richards-Kortum" (https://www.macfo
und.org/fellows/970/). MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
5. "Rebecca Richards-Kortum" (https://www.invent.org/inductees/rebecca-richards-kortum).
invent.org. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
6. Team, M. I. C. (n.d.). Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum. Meridian International Center.
Retrieved April 11, 2023, from https://www.meridian.org/profile/dr-rebecca-richards-kortum/
7. Rebecca Richards-Kortum. RSS. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2023, from
https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2016/rebecca-richards-kortum#searchresults
8. U.S. Department of State. (2021, January 5). U.S. science envoy program - united states
department of state. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved April 11, 2023, from
https://www.state.gov/programs-office-of-science-and-technology-cooperation/u-s-science-
envoy-program /
9. Beaubien, Jason (2016-09-22). " 'Genius Grant' Winner Is A Genius At Inspiring Students" (h
ttps://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/09/22/494984088/genius-grant-winner-is-a-
genius-at-inspiring-students). No. Morning Edition. NPR. NPR. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
10. Jeffrey J. Gray [@jeffreyjgray] (2016-04-04). "BME and ChE show largest gap between
%women PhD grads and faculty. From @kortum's #GalettiAward Lecture @AIMBE" (https://
x.com/jeffreyjgray/status/716980050537680896) (Tweet). Retrieved 2016-11-04 – via
Twitter.
11. "American Philosophical Society: Newly Elected - April 2017" (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0170915195158/https://amphilsoc.org/members/electedApril2017). Archived from the
original (https://amphilsoc.org/members/electedApril2017) on 2017-09-15.
12. "The Optical Society Feld Biophotonics Award" (https://www.osa.org/en-us/awards_and_gra
nts/awards/award_description/michaelsfeld/).
13. Becker, A. (2019, August 16). The engineer: Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Ph.d., creates
simple machines that save lives. TMC News. Retrieved April 11, 2023, from
https://www.tmc.edu/news/2018/10/the-engineer/
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rebecca_Richards-Kortum&oldid=1221778804"

Rebecca_Richards-Kortum

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Rebecca_Richards-Kortum

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Rebecca_Richards-Kortum

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Rebecca Richards-Kortum

Rebecca Richards-Kortum (born April 14, 1964) is

Early life Foundation,

Honors and awards

She was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2017.[11]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rebecca_Richards-Kortum&oldid=1221778804"

You might also like