Aiding the Developing World with Low-Cost, High-Performance Health Technologies
A hand-powered centrifuge, created by Rice students by building upon a simple salad spinner, has the potential to revolutionize anemia detection in rural areas of Ecuador, Malawi and Swaziland. A 2.5-pound, battery-powered microscope that costs only $240 to manufacture can be used to detect tuberculosis and malaria. With an inexpensive saliva test, bio-nano-chips can identify heart disease, HIV/AIDS and cancer. And so far, 45,000 people in 21 countries have benefited from these and other technologies and programs.
At Rice, we believe that comprehensive solutions to global health challenges are within our reach. Through the Rice 360°: Institute for Global Health Technologies, we are leveraging our strengths in bioengineering and nanotechnology, our partnerships with the Texas Medical Center, and our nationally-ranked business school and public policy institute. Our students are on the front lines field-testing technologies and exploring commercialization and income generation practices in developing communities.
We seek to establish Rice as an international leader in global health education, and our $60 million Centennial Campaign goal will enable further developments in next-generation health technologies, the sustainable dissemination and distribution of those technologies, and the empowerment of a new generation of global leaders. For more information about supporting Rice 360°, contact your Rice development representative or Sara Lillehaugen at 713-348-3077 or sdl@rice.edu.
Designing New Technologies to Improve Global Health — $30 million
To generate solutions to the world’s health challenges, we must expand research programs for developing appropriate, point-of-care diagnostics and point-of-use water treatment. Through our faculty strengths in bioengineering and nanosensors and our rich partnerships with the Texas Medical Center, we can generate powerful technologies that will revolutionize the future of global health.
Distributing New Technologies — $20 million
If we are to lead in improving health around the world, we must commercialize and distribute technologies, making them meaningful and useful in the regions where they are most needed. Rice 360° brings together engineering, business and public policy to turn innovation into action. Scholars from the schools of Natural Sciences, Engineering and Social Sciences as well as the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business and the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy are working together to facilitate the sustainable distribution of new technologies.
Training Students to Solve Global Challenges — $10 million
Rice seeks to engage undergraduates from all disciplinary backgrounds in solving global health challenges. Through the global health technologies minor, international field experiences and design projects initiated directly from our partners in the field, Rice 360° trains students to lead efforts to prevent disease, improve health and reduce poverty in vulnerable communities throughout the world.