# Rebecca R. Richards-Kortum
**Rebecca R. Richards-Kortum** is an American bioengineer whose career centers on low-cost, point-of-care medical technologies for low-resource settings. She is the Malcolm Gillis University Professor and professor of bioengineering and electrical and computer engineering at [Rice University](https://www.edgepedia.org/rice-university), where she directs the Rice 360° Institute for Global Health and founded the Beyond Traditional Borders undergraduate global health program.[1](https://kortum.rice.edu/people/rebecca-richards-kortum) Her work spans optical imaging for cancer detection and neonatal devices for sub-Saharan Africa, and in 2016 she received a MacArthur Fellowship for developing point-of-care diagnostic technologies and a new approach to engineering education.[2](https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2016/rebecca-richards-kortum) She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering,[3](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/rebecca-r-richards-kortum-2n6lvq/) and, since 2025, the [National Academy of Medicine](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-academy-of-medicine).[4](https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/richards-kortum-elected-national-academy-medicine)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Current role | Malcolm Gillis University Professor, Rice University; director, Rice 360° Institute for Global Health[1](https://kortum.rice.edu/people/rebecca-richards-kortum) |
| Training | BS Physics and Mathematics, University of Nebraska, Lincoln (1985); MS Physics (1987) and PhD Medical Physics (1990), MIT[5](https://www.optica.org/History/Biographies/bios/Rebecca_R_Richards_Kortum) |
| Bubble CPAP | Device for newborns; cut mortality in a Malawi neonatal ward by 46% at nearly 38 times lower cost than the standard model[2](https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2016/rebecca-richards-kortum) |
| Cancer technology | High-resolution microendoscope (HRME); trials involving over 15,000 patients in China, Brazil, and El Salvador[3](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/rebecca-r-richards-kortum-2n6lvq/) |
| Education program | Beyond Traditional Borders (2006): 3,000 students, 58 technologies reaching 45,000 people in 24 countries[6](https://lemelson.mit.edu/news-events/news/rebecca-richards-kortum-and-maria-oden-win-lemelson-mit-award-global-innovation) |
| Honors | MacArthur Fellow (2016); NAE (2008); NAS; American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2015); National Academy of Medicine (2025)[2](https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2016/rebecca-richards-kortum) |
## Education and early career
Richards-Kortum was born in [Grand Island, Nebraska](https://www.edgepedia.org/grand-island-nebraska), in 1964.[3](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/rebecca-r-richards-kortum-2n6lvq/) She earned a BS in Physics and [Mathematics](https://www.edgepedia.org/mathematics) from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, in 1985, an MS in Physics from MIT in 1987, and a PhD in Medical Physics from MIT in 1990.[5](https://www.optica.org/History/Biographies/bios/Rebecca_R_Richards_Kortum)
In 1990 she joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty at the [University of Texas at Austin](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-texas-at-austin), where she helped found the Biomedical Engineering department.[3](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/rebecca-r-richards-kortum-2n6lvq/) She spent 15 years there developing optical imaging for cervical, oral, and esophageal cancers.[7](https://spectrum.ieee.org/rice-university-cancer-detection-technology) In 2005 she moved to Rice University as Chair of the Bioengineering Department.[3](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/rebecca-r-richards-kortum-2n6lvq/)
## Optical diagnostics for cancer
Her laboratory's central tool is the high-resolution microendoscope (HRME), a low-cost fiber-optic fluorescence microscope that images the size, shape, and distribution of epithelial cell nuclei in real time in vivo, delineating the morphologic changes associated with dysplasia and cancer.[8](https://kortum.rice.edu/research) The device images at 80 frames per second and, by her group's report, correctly identifies precancerous tissue 95 percent of the time; AI-based algorithms are being incorporated to improve performance further.[7](https://spectrum.ieee.org/rice-university-cancer-detection-technology) At UT Austin she built a battery-powered, low-cost imaging system to detect precancerous tissue without biopsy, developed for oral cancer with clinicians at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.[9](https://www.invent.org/inductees/rebecca-richards-kortum)
Clinical results followed in several settings. A study in the United States and China showed the system could eliminate unnecessary and costly biopsies for about 90 percent of patients with benign esophageal lesions, and studies in [El Salvador](https://www.edgepedia.org/el-salvador), Brazil, and Texas's Rio Grande Valley showed improved early detection of cervical cancer.[9](https://www.invent.org/inductees/rebecca-richards-kortum) Clinical trials of the microendoscope involving more than 15,000 patients in China, Brazil, and El Salvador have been underway.[3](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/rebecca-r-richards-kortum-2n6lvq/) The lab has also developed a paper-based HPV DNA test for cervical cancer screening that runs within an hour, has sensitivity equivalent to gold-standard assays, and costs $2 to $3 per test, and is developing a swallowable tethered capsule with peristalsis-driven rotation that images the entire esophagus.[8](https://kortum.rice.edu/research)
## Low-cost devices for global health
Her team's bubble CPAP system, built to treat respiratory illness in premature babies, reduced equipment cost from $6,000 to $400; a study in Malawi showed survival improved from 25 percent to 64 percent.[10](https://www.amacad.org/person/rebecca-r-richards-kortum) The MacArthur Foundation cites a 46 percent decrease in mortality in a Malawi neonatal ward at a cost nearly 38 times lower than the standard model.[2](https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2016/rebecca-richards-kortum) The device was implemented at all government hospitals in Malawi and introduced in Zambia, Tanzania, and South Africa, and in 2014 the United Nations recognized CPAP as one of about 8 innovations that can save the lives of women and children now.[3](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/rebecca-r-richards-kortum-2n6lvq/)
Other devices include the Pumani CPAP system for newborns, BiliSpec for measuring bilirubin to detect jaundice, and DoseRight for accurate dosing of children's liquid medication.[9](https://www.invent.org/inductees/rebecca-richards-kortum) Beyond Traditional Borders students created an LED-based phototherapy light for newborn jaundice costing less than $100.[2](https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2016/rebecca-richards-kortum) She leads a multi-institutional team developing a package of 17 life-saving neonatal technologies.[1](https://kortum.rice.edu/people/rebecca-richards-kortum) Her team advocates "frugal design" that reflects the needs and constraints of low-resource settings.[11](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5098615/)
## Rice 360° and Beyond Traditional Borders
After visiting under-equipped neonatal wards in Malawi, she moved to Rice and, according to the National Inventors Hall of Fame, with Rice colleague Maria Oden founded the Rice 360° Institute for Global Health in 2007.[9](https://www.invent.org/inductees/rebecca-richards-kortum) At Rice in 2006, she founded the engineering design program known as Beyond Traditional Borders.[6](https://lemelson.mit.edu/news-events/news/rebecca-richards-kortum-and-maria-oden-win-lemelson-mit-award-global-innovation) Among the founding members of NEST360, an international alliance of universities, hospitals, and nonprofits that aims to end preventable newborn deaths across sub-Saharan Africa, is Rice360.[4](https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/richards-kortum-elected-national-academy-medicine)
## Engineering education reform
Beyond Traditional Borders guided more than 3,000 students through the program's invention process, resulting in 58 health technologies helping 45,000 people in 24 countries; it includes an eight-week international internship in Africa and Latin America, and 90 percent of BTB summer interns incorporate global health activities into their careers.[6](https://lemelson.mit.edu/news-events/news/rebecca-richards-kortum-and-maria-oden-win-lemelson-mit-award-global-innovation) According to her Rice University School of Engineering profile, the program won the Science Prize for Inquiry-Based Instruction in 2012 and the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation in 2013.[12](https://engineering.rice.edu/rebecca-richards-kortum) The MacArthur Fellowship cited this new approach to engineering education alongside the devices themselves.[2](https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2016/rebecca-richards-kortum)
## Honors and recognition
She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2008, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015, and the [American Philosophical Society](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-philosophical-society) in 2017; her National Academy of Sciences election year is given as 2016 and as 2015 in a PNAS profile.[12](https://engineering.rice.edu/rebecca-richards-kortum) She was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor in 2002 and in June 2018 was one of five scientists selected as a U.S. Science Envoy for Health Security.[12](https://engineering.rice.edu/rebecca-richards-kortum) She is a fellow of AIMBE (2000), AAAS (2008), BMES (2008), OSA (2014), and the National Academy of Inventors (2014), and Fortune named her to its World's 50 Greatest Leaders list in 2017.[12](https://engineering.rice.edu/rebecca-richards-kortum)
## Recent developments
She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2025; according to Rice, her publications include over 300 research papers, 13 book chapters, and a textbook on biomedical engineering for global health, and she holds over 40 patents (the MacArthur Foundation puts the figure at more than thirty).[4](https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/richards-kortum-elected-national-academy-medicine) Rice reports that she is the second Rice engineering faculty member elected to all three national academies.[4](https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/richards-kortum-elected-national-academy-medicine) Researchers led by her at Rice developed and tested mDOC (mobile Detection of Oral Cancer), a low-cost smartphone-based imaging system, in a study published in Biophotonics Discovery.[13](https://aimbe.org/college-of-fellows/COF-0833/) In 2026 she received an ad hoc grant to advance Access BreastDX, a low-cost, AI-enabled system for point-of-care evaluation of breast tissue samples, centered on a digital microscope expected to cost less than $5,000.[14](https://news.rice.edu/news/2026/rice360-project-aims-bring-faster-breast-cancer-diagnosis-rural-texas)
## References
1. Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging Laboratory, Rice University. https://kortum.rice.edu/people/rebecca-richards-kortum
2. Rebecca Richards-Kortum, MacArthur Foundation, Class of 2016. https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2016/rebecca-richards-kortum
3. Rebecca R. Richards-Kortum, National Academy of Sciences directory. https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/rebecca-r-richards-kortum-2n6lvq/
4. Richards-Kortum elected to the National Academy of Medicine, Rice News (2025). https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/richards-kortum-elected-national-academy-medicine
5. Rebecca R. Richards-Kortum, Optica biography. https://www.optica.org/History/Biographies/bios/Rebecca_R_Richards_Kortum
6. Rebecca Richards-Kortum and Maria Oden Win Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation (2013). https://lemelson.mit.edu/news-events/news/rebecca-richards-kortum-and-maria-oden-win-lemelson-mit-award-global-innovation
7. This Rice University Professor Developed Cancer-Detection Technology, IEEE Spectrum. https://spectrum.ieee.org/rice-university-cancer-detection-technology
8. Research, Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging Laboratory, Rice University. https://kortum.rice.edu/research
9. Rebecca Richards-Kortum, National Inventors Hall of Fame. https://www.invent.org/inductees/rebecca-richards-kortum
10. Rebecca R. Richards-Kortum, American Academy of Arts and Sciences. https://www.amacad.org/person/rebecca-r-richards-kortum
11. Profile of Rebecca Richards-Kortum, PNAS. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5098615/
12. Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Rice University School of Engineering. https://engineering.rice.edu/rebecca-richards-kortum
13. Rebecca Richards-Kortum, AIMBE College of Fellows. https://aimbe.org/college-of-fellows/COF-0833/
14. Rice360 project aims to bring faster breast cancer diagnosis to rural Texas, Rice News (2026). https://news.rice.edu/news/2026/rice360-project-aims-bring-faster-breast-cancer-diagnosis-rural-texas
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Medical and health researchers › Researchers in molecular diagnostics, pathology, medical imaging, and precision medicine › Molecular diagnostics and nucleic acid detection*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license