Rebecca Rae Richards-Kortum
Personal Information
Born: 1964
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
University of Nebraska-Lincoln BS Physics & Mathematics 1985; MIT MA Physics 1987 & PhD Medical Physics 1990
Professional Life
Field of Study: Bioengineer
Institution/Corporation: Rice University; University of Texas at Austin
Degrees & Memberships: Member: National Academy of Sciences (2016) National Academy of Engineering (2008) American Philosophical Society (2017) American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2015)SPIE (2016)Fellow American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering (2000)Fellow American Academy for the Advancement of Science (2008) Fellow Biomedical Engineering Society (2008) Fellow Optical Society of America (2014) Fellow National Academy of Inventors (2014) Senior Member IEEE (2007) OSA (2012)
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 2016 MacArthur Fellowship; Lemelson-MIT Prize; 2017 named as 1 of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders by Forbes Magazine; 1999 Y.C. Fung Young Investigator Award, American society of Mechanical Engineers; 1991 Presidential Young Investigator, NSF; 1992 Presidential Faculty Fellow, NSF; 1992 Beckton Dickinson Career Achievement Award, Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation; 2004 Sharon Keillor Award for Women in Engineering Education; 2007 Chester F. Carlson Award, American Society for Engineering Education; 2008 Vice President Recognition Award, IEEE; 2011 Celebrating Women in Science Award, Bio Houston Inc; 2012 Women Leaders in Medicine Award, American Medical Student Association; 2014 Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award, Optical Society of America; 2016 Pierre Galetti Award, American Institute for Medical & Biomedical Engineering; 2014 & 2016 George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching, Association of Rice Alumni; 2019 National Inventors Hall of Fame; 2008 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor
Achievements: focuses on the development of low-cost,high-performance technology for remote & low resource settings that address cervical & oral cancer, premature birth, sickle cell disease & malaria; leads a multi-institutional team to develop a package of 17 life saving neonatal techniques used in North America at a fraction of the cost in Malawi, China, Botswana, El Salvador, & Brazil; currently working on Nursery of the Future to provide technology to decrease neonatal death in Sub-Saharan Africa
Founder of Beyond Traditional Borders, a curriculum for undergraduates to turn classroom content into solutions for global health
Originally wanted to be a high school math & science teacher
Specializes in creating new technology to provide health care to vulnerable populations, including methods for new diagnosis of cancers, methods for treating jaundice in newborns, & a bubble continuous positive airway pressure machine for premature babies unable to breathe on their own
Developed a low-cost, battery imaging system that could detect premalignant tissue without a biopsy for people who lack access to early cancer screening options
Her lab works to advance nanotech & molecular imaging in order to develop portable & inexpensive optical imaging systems
With another faculty member at Rice University, created Rice 360 Degrees Institute for Global Health where she developed low-power devices for premature babies in impoverished areas at low-cost; has created devices Pumani CPAP, BiliSpec, & DoseRight
Holds 40 patents (38 found)