Cato T. Laurencin, MD, PhD
Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. is the University Professor and Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Connecticut. He is Professor of Chemical Engineering, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the school. He serves as the Chief Executive Officer of The Connecticut Convergence Institute for Translation in Regenerative Engineering at UConn.
Dr. Laurencin earned a B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University, his M.D., Magna Cum Laude, from the Harvard Medical School, and his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Laurencin is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, and an elected fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He is the first surgeon in history elected to all four of these academies.
In engineering and medicine, he is the first person in history to receive the oldest/highest award of the National Academy of Engineering (the Simon Ramo Founder’s Award) and the oldest/highest award of the National Academy of Medicine (the Walsh McDermott Medal). In science, he received the Philip Hauge Abelson Prize given ‘for signal contributions to the advancement of science in the United States’. In technology and inventorship, Dr. Laurencin is a laureate of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, America’s highest honor for technological achievement, awarded by President Barack Obama in ceremonies at the White House.
Dr. Laurencin is known as a world leader in biomaterials, polymeric materials science, nanotechnology, stem cell science, bioceramics, drug delivery systems, and regenerative engineering, a field he has pioneered. He has made fundamental and seminal contributions to materials science and engineering, including the introduction of nanotechnology into the biomaterials field for regeneration.