William Richard Email and Phone Number

I joined the Washington University in St. Louis School of Engineering and Applied Science faculty in 1988 after finishing my Ph.D. in electrical engineering from what was then known as the University of Missouri-Rolla. My 1989 IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging paper on real-time ultrasonic gain correction and my 1994 Ultrasonic Imaging paper on real-time scan conversion (with Professor Martin Arthur) were key to the development of many low-cost, commercial and R&D ultrasonic imaging systems. The PCI bus-based ultrasound systems developed in my laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis were used in 1995 for prostate localization during radiation treatment at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and in 1996 to localize brain tumors during neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic as part of the CAMIS (Computer-Assisted Minimally-Invasive Surgery) project.I retired from Washington University in St. Louis on August 31st, 2024.In 2004, I formed Z&R Technologies, L.L.C., with David M. Zar.The Universal Serial Bus (USB) ultrasound probes we developed, which require only a laptop or tablet to form a complete ultrasonic imaging system, were named by Popular Science Magazine as one of the Best 100 Innovations of 2006. The same year, the International Academy of Science named our USB probes one of the top 10 finalists for their "Technology of the Year Award."With funding from Microsoft Research, my Washington University in St. Louis ultrasound lab combined a USB probe with a Windows Mobile (TM) smartphone to develop the first smartphone-based ultrasound imaging system. The commercial version of this system was the first smartphone-based diagnostic device cleared by the FDA, and it was named by Popular Science as one of the Best 100 Innovations of 2012. My 15 minutes of fame came in 2009 when I discussed the smartphone-based ultrasound system in an interview with Erin Burnett on CNBC in "The Tech Effect."