Kokko-Cunningham, Ritva Aulikki (1936-2017) | University of Illinois Archives

Ritva Aulikki Kokko-Cunningham (1936-2017) was an associate professor in the School of Basic Medical Sciences, Urbana-Champaign and the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (UIUC) from 1973-1997. During her time at UIUC, Dr. Aulikki Kokko-Cunningham lectured on microscopic anatomy, histology, and histochemistry. Along with her colleague, Richard Mantel, she helped create and develop an Internet Atlas of Histology which, as of 2019, is still in use.

Ritva Aulikki Kokko-Cunningham was born December 20, 1936 in Viipuri, Finland. She graduated as a candidate of Medicine (equivalent of Bachelor of Medicine) in 1959 from the University of Helsinki. She received her Degree of Licentiate of Medicine in 1963 and her Doctor of Medicine in 1966, both from the University of Helsinki. Upon graduation, Aulikki Kokko-Cunningham was hired as an Acting Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Helsinki (1966-1967). From 1967-1969 she served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anatomy at the Yale University Medical School. Dr. Aulikki Kokko-Cunningham worked as a research associate in the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Physiology at UIUC from 1970-1973. She became an associate professor at the School of Basic Medical Sciences, Urbana-Champaign and the Department of Physiology and Biophysics in 1973.

Dr. Aulikki Kokko-Cunningham was the recipient of the Finnish Cultural Fund Award (1966), a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship (1967), and the James Hudson-Brown Memorial Fellowship from Yale University (1967-1969).

She was married to Clark Cunningham and adopted his two children as her own.

Dr. Aulikki Kokko-Cunningham died on September 10, 2017.