Rebecca Richards-Kortum
Biography
Rebecca Richards-Kortum has not only shown exceptional creativity in using optical solutions for cancer detection, she has pioneered an entirely new field: global health engineering. Guided by a belief that all people deserve access to health innovation, Richards-Kortum has developed low-cost, high-performance, life-saving technologies to help vulnerable populations in low-resource settings around the world. Focusing on diseases that cause high morbidity and mortality, such as cervical cancer, premature birth, and malaria, Richards-Kortum and her students have developed technologies that are now used in over a dozen countries and are commercially available on four continents. She led the development of a high-resolution microendoscope capable of real-time subcellular imaging of epithelial tissue that clinical trials have shown can improve early diagnosis of esophageal, oral, and cervical precancer from 29% to 79%, without reducing sensitivity. A further advantage is that high-resolution imaging can spare 60% of patients the expensive, painful biopsies traditionally needed for clinical diagnosis. Richards-Kortum’s group has also integrated advances in nanotechnology and microfabrication to develop low-cost sensors to detect infectious diseases like HIV, cryptosporidium, malaria, and tuberculosis. She led development of novel nucleic-acid tests to enable diagnosis of HIV in infants in low-resource settings, introducing the first integrated paper-and-plastic device for isothermal amplification of DNA. Together with Maria Oden, Richards-Kortum also led development and dissemination of low-cost technologies to improve neonatal survival in sub-Saharan Africa. Her low-cost bubble CPAP device, which treats premature infants with respiratory distress, delivers the same flow and pressure as systems used in the U.S., at a 30-fold cost reduction. Clinical evaluation has shown the device improves survival rates from 24% to 65% and it has now been implemented nationwide in Malawi, and sold in over 35 other countries. Richards-Kortum’s multidimensional work has changed the nature of biomedical engineering and the world is a better place thanks to her many accomplishments.
An IEEE Senior Member, Richards-Kortum is the Malcolm Gillis University Professor of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA.
