Dr. Richard Lester

Dr. Richard Lester is an Infectious Diseases physician-scientist at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) in Canada. He is best known for being the first researcher to show that the use of mobile phone communications with patients using text messaging via short message service (SMS) could improve patient medication adherence and treatment outcomes (mHealth). He led the first randomized controlled trial using text messaging to support HIV treatment for patients in Kenya, WelTel Kenya1, which has been expanded for managing chronic diseases in Canada, the US, and other countries. The communication approach used was also novel in that if focused on 2-way interactive texting to ‘check-in’ on patients and let them report their issue in their own language. 
Dr. Lester's current research involves utilizing data science techniques like natural language processing (NLP) to evaluate patient-healthcare provider communications for insights into healthcare quality improvement and AI in precision public health. He is a co-founder of WelTel Incorporated, a digital health social enterprise. He is co-Director of the UBC Neglected Global Disease Inititaive and is a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Digital Health Task Force. In 2020, he received the Clinical Innovator of the Year Award from Digital Health Canada.
==Early Life and Career==
Dr. Richard Lester was born on 31 July 1971 in Surrey Memorial Hospital and moved to the small northern town of Smithers BC at the age of 5. He enjoyed basketball and played the mandolin in the Driftwood Canyon family band alongside his sister Jenny Lester. As an avid fan of the television series MASH, Richard’s passion for medicine developed at an early age. He graduated from Smithers Senior Secondary School and won the Canadian Governor General’s award. He received an M.D. from the University of Alberta in Edmonton in 1999 and went on to complete training in Internal Medicine at the University of Toronto and an Infectious Diseases subspecialty at the University of British Columbia. Supported by the Canadian AMMI-BMS Fellowship Award, he later joined the University of Manitoba’s research consortium in Nairobi, Kenya working under the mentorship of Dr. Francis Plummer, initially working on researching innate immunity among female commercial sex workers who were resistant to HIV infection to try to come up with an effective HIV vaccine. It was then he came up with the concept of using cell phones to support patients taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV/AIDS. This was proven in the randomized controlled trial (RCT), WelTel Kenya1, to improve medication adherence and suppression of HIV viral load. His research grew to include other infectious and chronic diseases. In 2020 it was used nationally in Rwanda to support the COVID-19 pandemic.
==Awards and Memberships==
Dr. Richard Lester's contributions to the field of digital health have garnered significant recognition, leading to several awards and memberships in prestigious organizations. Some of his notable accolades and affiliations include:
===Awards===
2020: Clinical Innovator Award, Digital Health Canada
2004-2007: Infectious Disease Research Fellowship Award, Bristol-Myers Squibb/CIDS/CAMM
1989: Governor General's Award
===Memberships===
College of Reviewers (CIHR grant review, 2017 - present)
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada (FRCPC)
Neglected Global Disease Initiative (NGDI)
Category:1971 births
Category:University of Alberta alumni
Category:University of Toronto alumni
Category:Physicians
Category:Scientists