Tufts University: 175 Years of Innovation

Valencia Koomson, Associate Professor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Tufts, is leading the development of improved pulse oximeters. These tools, used for measuring blood oxygen levels, heart rate, respiration rate, and other vital signs, have been found to be less accurate when used for patients with darker skin tones. A 2020 study in the New England Journal of Medicine stated that undetected hypoxemia was three times more likely to occur in Black patients due to inaccurate pulse oximeter readings, and the FDA issued a public warning about the device’s blind spots the following year. The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center selected Koomson as the recipient of their Health Equity Accelerator grant in 2025 to support her continued work.