Innovations in AI: Mobile Microscopy and Machine Learning for Global Health

Join UCSF Institute for Global Health Science for the Innovation Pathways Series on Innovations in AI. The Innovation Pathways series takes place monthly.  

Optical microscopy remains a cornerstone of clinical research and an essential technology for disease diagnosis. Yet access to high-quality microscopes and trained microscopists is limited, particularly in regions with constrained healthcare infrastructure. Modern mobile phones, with advanced cameras and substantial computational power, create new opportunities for portable, low-cost microscopy systems with integrated image processing. Recent advances in machine learning now make it possible to rapidly and automatically analyze microscopy images at the point of care, expanding access to diagnostics and informing treatment strategies in underserved settings. This talk will present ongoing work developing mobile microscopes and machine learning algorithms that address critical diagnostic challenges in global health.

Speaker: Daniel Fletcher, PhD, D.Phil

Daniel Fletcher, PhD, D.Phil, is Professor of Bioengineering and Biophysics at UC Berkeley and the Pernendu Chatterjee Chair of Engineering Biological Systems. He and his laboratory develop new technologies for studying cell behavior and diagnosing diseases. Fletcher is a Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator, Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Member of the Biophysics and Computational Biology Graduate Groups, Visiting Investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Virology, and currently serves as Faculty Director of the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley. Fletcher received a B.S. from Princeton University, a D.Phil. from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. He served as a White House Fellow in the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the beginning of the Obama administration and was recently elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

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