Rebecca R. Richards-Kortum

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rebecca R. Richards-Kortum (* 14. April 1964 in Grand Iceland , Nebraska ) is an American medical technology - engineer at Rice University in Houston , Texas .

Richards-Kortum acquired in 1985 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln a Bachelor in Physics and Mathematics , in 1987 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology a Master in Physics and in 1990 the same place at Michael Stephen Field (1940-2010) a Ph.D. in medical physics . In the same year she received a professorship at the University of Texas , where she helped set up the Department of Biomedical Engineering. 2005 she became the owner of the Department of Bioengineering at the Rice University . In 2007 she founded the Rice 360 ​​°: Institute for Global Health for the development of medical technology for the conditions of the Global South together with the Clinton Global Initiative (see Clinton Foundation ) . Since 2002 she has also been doing research for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

A number of groundbreaking technical developments can be traced back to Richards-Kortum. For example, she developed several point-of-care test devices for measuring hemoglobin (test costs less than 1 cent ), for detecting HIV , cryptosporidia , plasmodia ( malaria pathogens) and mycobacteria ( tuberculosis pathogens), a fiberoptic endoscope for detecting cervical cancer and other cancers, and ventilators for premature babies . They are inexpensive medical devices for use outside of a high-tech environment.

At Rice University she founded the Beyond Traditional Borders (BTB) program, in which undergraduate students grapple with the problems of the Global South. From the BTB, among other things, the development of an LED -based device for the treatment of newborn jaundice at a manufacturing cost of less than $ 100 or a CPAP ventilator (cost: $ 160) for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants, with which mortality is reduced at a premature infants ward in Malawi almost halved.

Richards-Kortum has published more than 300 scientific publications and according to Google Scholar (March 2019) has an h-index of 94. She holds more than 40 patents.

In 2008 Richards-Kortum was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the National Academy of Engineering , 2015 a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences , 2017 of the American Philosophical Society . In 2019 she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame . In 2013 she and Maria Oden received the Global Innovation Award of the Lemelson-MIT Prize , and in 2016 a MacArthur Fellowship .

Richards-Kortum is married to the psychologist Philip Kortum and has six children.

literature

  • Jennifer Viegas: Profile of Rebecca Richards-Kortum. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113, 2016, p. 12341, doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1616449113 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rebecca Richards-Kortum, PhD. In: hhmi.org. Howard Hughes Medical Institute , accessed March 1, 2019 .
  2. ^ Rebecca Richards-Kortum. In: scholar.google.de. Google Scholar , accessed March 1, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Dr. Rebecca R. Richards-Kortum. In: nae.edu. National Academy of Engineering , accessed March 1, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter R. (PDF; 508 kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved March 1, 2019 .
  5. ^ Rebecca R. Richards-Kortum. In: nasonline.org. National Academy of Sciences , accessed March 1, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum. In: amphilsoc.org. American Philosophical Society , accessed March 1, 2019 .
  7. ^ Rebecca Richards-Kortum. In: invent.org. National Inventors Hall of Fame , accessed March 1, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Drs. Rebecca Richards-Kortum & Maria Oden. In: lemelson.mit.edu. Massachusetts Institute of Technology , accessed March 1, 2019 .
  9. ^ Rebecca Richards-Kortum. In: macfound.org. John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation , accessed March 1, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Richards-Kortum, Rebecca R.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Richards-Kortum, Rebecca
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American medical technology engineer
DATE OF BIRTH April 14, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Grand Island , Nebraska