Stephen Boppart is the Abel Bliss Professor of Engineering with appointments in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Bioengineering, and Medicine. He is also a full-time faculty member at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. His Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory is focused on developing novel optical biomedical diagnostic and imaging technologies and translating them into clinical applications. Prof. Boppart is an Illinois native and received his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Electrical and Bioengineering. After conducting research in the U.S. Air Force Laser Research Lab, he went on to complete his Ph.D. in Medical and Electrical Engineering from MIT, his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and his residency training at the University of Illinois in Internal Medicine. Since returning to UIUC as a professor in 2000, he has published over 300 invited and contributed publications and over 40 patents related to optical biomedical imaging technology. He has mentored over 90 undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate interdisciplinary researchers. He was recognized by MIT’s Technology Review Magazine as one of the Top 100 Young Innovators in the World for his development of medical technology, received the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Early Career Award, and the Paul F. Forman Engineering Excellence Award from the Optical Society of America for dedication and advancement in undergraduate research education.
More recently, he received the international Hans Sigrist Prize in the field of Diagnostic Laser Medicine. He was Founding Director of the Mills Breast Cancer Institute at Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana, Illinois, and has worked to establish and strengthen partnership ties between the University of Illinois and local medical institutions. Prof. Boppart has co-founded three start-up companies (LightLab Imaging, Diagnostic Photonics, and PhotoniCare) to commercialize and disseminate his optical technologies for biomedical imaging. He is a Fellow of AAAS, AIMBE, IEEE, OSA, and SPIE. He previously served as Director of a campus-wide Imaging at Illinois initiative for seven years to integrate imaging science, technology, and applications across multiple modalities and fields, and is currently Director of a new Center for Optical Molecular Imaging supported by an academic-clinical-industry partnership with GlaxoSmithKline. Prof. Boppart has been a strong advocate for the integration of engineering and medicine at Illinois to advance human health and our healthcare system, and is playing an active role in the visioning and development of a new engineering-based College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.