Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide, with approximately 15,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the United States alone. However, if detected early enough, there is a 91% five-year survival rate, making early screening and detection essential.

Unfortunately, diagnosis is currently hindered by a screening process that is time-consuming and expensive.

University of Texas biomedical engineering professor Rebecca Richards-Kortum has developed remarkable new technology that may change this. Her fiber optic spectroscope has the potential to dramatically improve the current standard of care in cervical cancer detection.

The National Institutes of Health is betting on Richards-Kortum's work. NIH has awarded her an $11 million grant to conduct a clinical trial of the new device

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