معرفی
Rebecca Richards-Kortum is the Malcolm Gillis University Professor and Professor of Bioengineering at Rice University, and Co-Director of the Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies. Her research focuses on developing low-cost, high-performance medical technologies for low-resource settings, addressing diseases like cervical cancer, neonatal mortality, and malaria. She leads the NEST360 initiative, a $68M global alliance targeting newborn mortality reduction in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Education: Ph.D. in Medical Physics (MIT, 1990), M.S. Physics (MIT, 1987), B.S. Physics and Mathematics (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1985)
- Affiliations: Collaboration with UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, and institutions in Malawi, Brazil, and beyond.
Her research integrates optical imaging, nanotechnology, and microfabrication to create tools like high-resolution microendoscopes for early cancer detection. She holds 40 patents and has authored over 315 papers. Awards include the MacArthur 'Genius' Grant (2016), membership in the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering, and the George R. Brown Award for Teaching (2014, 2016).
Her labs, including the Optical Spectroscopy & Imaging Lab, emphasize global health equity. Recent work includes a $15M MacArthur grant for NEST360, which deploys 17 neonatal technologies to prevent 85% of African newborn deaths. She also co-founded the Beyond Traditional Borders (BTB) program, an engineering education initiative recognized by Science magazine.
