Stephen Boppart

Stephen Boppart is a Professor and Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He holds appointments in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Bioengineering, the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, and the Beckman Institute. His research focuses on developing optical biomedical imaging technologies for clinical translation. He earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and Ph.D. in Medical and Electrical Engineering from MIT.

His research interests include nonlinear optical microscopy, medical device engineering, optical diagnostics of cancer, neurophotonics, and imaging biofilms. He has published over 475 papers, holds 55 patents, and co-founded four companies. Awards include the Hans Sigrist Prize and IEEE Technical Achievement Award.

Boppart directs the NIH P41 CLIMB Center and the GSK Center for Optical Molecular Imaging. He has mentored over 200 researchers and serves as an advocate for interdisciplinary healthcare innovation, including roles in the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute and the Mayo Clinic & Illinois Alliance.