Gerard L. Coté: The 2024 SPIE Britton Chance Biomedical Optics Award
Gerard L. Coté, director of Texas A&M University’s Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems and the James J. Cain Professor in the university’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, is a widely recognized expert in biophotonics and its many practical applications. He has made seminal fundamental and translational research contributions in biomedical sensing using optics for diagnostic and monitoring applications, particularly in optical glucose monitoring for diabetes and point-of-care diagnostics for several diseases including malaria, cancer, preeclampsia, and cardiovascular issues. His research is multidisciplinary, involving several other investigators across the globe: he works regularly with medical doctors, life-science faculty, nurses, behavioral psychologists, faculty from other engineering and computer-science disciplines, community stakeholders, and industry leaders.
An SPIE Fellow, Coté has served the Society in multiple capacities including track and session chair positions at SPIE BiOS conferences; as a reviewer for SPIE’s Journal of Biomedical Optics (JBO) and Optical Engineering; and as guest editor — alongside Lihong Wang and Steven Jacques — of a JBO special issue on tissue polarimetry. Coté has also served as a reviewer for multiple grant organizations, including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Center for Disease Control, NASA, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Along with his wider contributions to the optics and photonics community, he is highly regarded as a dedicated educator to his many students.
“Gerry has contributed to the field of biophotonics in a unique way by truly bridging the gap between the bench and the bedside through a great emphasis on clinical translation and commercialization,” says Florida International University Biomedical Engineering Professor Jessica C. Ramella-Roman. “He is the author of several patents and co-founder of multiple medical device companies, including Base Pair BioTechnologies, Biotex, and Visualase, the latter of which was acquired by Medtronic in 2014. He has also contributed substantially to the organization and advancement of the field of biophotonics as an extremely active member of optical societies. In addition, Gerry has furthered the knowledge base in the field of biomedical optical sensing for glucose, cardiac blood biomarkers, and blood toxins: he is a recognized leader in optical sensing for diagnostic applications. Of particular note is his development of medical devices for low-resource settings – he has worked on novel inexpensive ways to detect malaria through a polarized cellphone and is a key contributor to the creation of novel instrumentation and methods for the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in underserved populations. Finally, Gerry has been a great mentor to scores of undergraduate and graduate students, and his students have become leaders in the field both in academia and industry. Across his many, many roles, Gerry Coté has been a truly fantastic asset to the field of biophotonics.”
Meet the other 2024 SPIE Society Award recipients.
Read more about Gerard L. Coté and the SPIE Britton Chance Biomedical Optics Award.
