Video: Steven Jacques on the laser's impact on biomedical optics
In his lab at Oregon Health and Science University, Jacques and his researchers have developed new modalities for diagnosis and treatment. He reflects on the laser's key role.
Steven Jacques is a professor of dermatology and health sciences at Oregon Health and Science University (Portland, OR). His research interest include biomedical optics and laser-tissue interactions, and development of diagnostic and therapeutic devices for medicine and biology using optical technologies.
He received his PhD in Biophysics and Medical Physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1984 after receiving his MS from Berkeley and his BS from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jacques developed the use of Monte Carlo computer simulations to study optical transport in biological tissues, which is now widely used in the field of biophotonics. In 1988, he joined the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer as an Assistant Professor of Urology/Biophysics and established a laboratory developing novel laser and optical methods for medicine, later achieving a tenured position as Associate Professor. He developed a hand-held spectrometer and the analysis software to noninvasively measure hyperbilirubinemia in newborns. This device was patented, licensed, and FDA approved to replace heel stick tests, and is now becoming accepted practice in neonatal care.
The Biophotonics Laboratory at OHSU develops novel uses of lasers and light in medicine and biology. Applications are both therapeutic and diagnostic. He is a Fellow of SPIE, and has been a frequent contributor to SPIE events since the beginning of the SPIE Biomedical Optics symposium, including nearly 20 years as chair of the annual Optical Interactions with Tissue conference. He regularly teaches a course in Tissue Optics at SPIE Photonics West. He has authored or coauthored more than 200 papers to SPIE Proceedings.
