University Professor and Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor
Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
Chief Executive Officer, The Connecticut Convergence Institute for Translation in Regenerative Engineering
Director, The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biomedical, Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1987), Hugh Hampton Young Fellow
M.D., Harvard Medical School (1987), Magna Cum Laude
Current Research
- Regenerative Engineering
- Musculoskeletal Regeneration
- Nanotechnology
- Polymeric Materials Science
- Bioreactor Technology
- Drug Delivery Systems
- Stem Cell Science and Technology
Professional Activities
Laureate, The National Medal of Technology and Innovation
Elected Member: National Academy of Engineering
Elected Member: National Academy of Medicine
One of the 100 Engineers of the Modern Era: (Named by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers at its Centennial Celebration)
Elected Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Life Member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Founder and President, The Regenerative Engineering Society (a Community of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers)
Recipient of the William Grimes Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Board of Directors, American Institute of Chemical Engineers 2018-2021
Current Research Group
| Post Doctoral Fellow | Ph.D. Students |
| Bret Ulery Meng Deng Kevin Lo |
Duron Lee Clarke Nelson Ami Amini Sean Peach Shaun McLaughlin Keshia Ashe Daisey Ramos |
Research Statement
Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. is the 8th designated University Professor in the history of the University of Connecticut. He is Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and the Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery. He serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Connecticut Convergence Institute for Translation in Regenerative Engineering and is the Founder and Director of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biomedical, Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences at UCONN.
Dr. Laurencin earned a B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University, a Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was a Hugh Hampton Young Fellow, and an M.D., Magna Cum Laude, from the Harvard Medical School, where he received the Robinson Award for Surgery.
Dr. Laurencin is the Founder of the Field of Regenerative Engineering.
In Chemical Engineering, Dr. Laurencin has distinguished himself in being named one of the 100 Engineers of the Modern Era by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. A Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, he won the William Grimes Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and served on the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers from 2018-2021. He is the Founder and President of the Regenerative Engineering Society, a community within the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and is the Editor-in-Chief of Regenerative Engineering and Translational Medicine, published by Springer/Nature.
Dr. Laurencin has been honored by the White House on three occasions. He received the Presidential Faculty Fellow Award from President Bill Clinton for his work bridging engineering and medicine. He received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Engineering, Science and Math Mentoring from President Barack Obama where it was noted that he has trained a generation of underrepresented faculty in engineering. He received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, our nation’s highest honor for technological achievement, for musculoskeletal regeneration, in ceremonies at the White House.
Dr. Laurencin has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense for over a quarter century. He received the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award (the NIH’s Highest Award for Innovation) and two NSF Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (the NSF’s Highest Award for Innovation) for his work in musculoskeletal regeneration.
Dr. Laurencin has two awards named in his honor. The Society for Biomaterials established The Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. Travel Fellowship Award given to underrepresented minority students pursuing biomaterials research and theW. Montague Cobb/NMA Institute and the National Medical Association established the Cato T. Laurencin Lifetime Research Achievement Award given at the opening ceremonies of the National Medical Association’s Annual Meeting each year.
Dr. Laurencin is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. He is an elected fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, an elected member of the Indian National Academy of Sciences, an elected Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences and an elected Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences. Dr. Laurencin is an Academician and Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Previous Positions
| University Professor at the University of Virginia |
| Professor of Chemical Engineering |
| Professor of Biomedical Engineering |
| Lillian T. Pratt Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Virginia |
| Orthopaedic Surgeon-in-Chief, University of Virginia Health System |
International Fellowships with Distinctions
Fellow, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 2012. Named one of the 100 Engineers of the Modern Era by the American Institute of Chemical Engineering, Awarded the William Grimes Award from AICHE, Awarded Black Eminent Engineer Award, Awarded Pioneer of Diversity Award
Member, National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers
Percy Julian Medal Awarded 2014
Fellow American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, 2000; Elected Chair, College of Fellows, Awarded the Pierre Galletti Award from AIMBE
International Fellow, Biomaterials Science and Engineering, 2000, Awarded the Founders Award and the Clemson Award for Contributions to the Biomaterials Literature, Society for Biomaterials
Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Society, 2010; Awarded the Diversity Award, Biomedical Engineering Society
Fellow, Materials Research Society, 2014; Awarded the Kavli Distinguished Plenary Award, 2017
Fellow, American Chemical Society, 2014; Diversity and Science Lecturer 2017
Awards & Honors
| 2018 | Lee Hsun Award |
| 2018 | Named to America’s Top Doctors (14th consecutive year) |
| 2016 | National Medal of Technology and Innovation |
| 2015 | Pioneer of Diversity Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers |
| 2015 | Living Legend Award, National Medical Association |
| 2015 | Lifetime Achievement Award, West Indian Foundation |
| 2014 | NIH Director’s Pioneer Award |
| 2014 | Torch of Liberty Award, Anti-Defamation League |
| 2014 | Percy Julian Award and Medal, National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChe) |
| 2014 | Connecticut Cure, Academic Entrepreneur of the Year Award |
| 2013 | American Association for the Advancement of Science Mentor Award |
| 2013 | Technology Innovation and Development Award of the Society for Biomaterials |
| 2012 | Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Award for Mentoring |
| 2012 | 10th Alvin Crawford Mentoring Award, The J. Robert Gladden Orthopaedic Society (JRGOS) |
| 2012 | Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 2011 | Elected, African Academy of Sciences |
| 2011 | Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) |
| 2011 | Designated as one of the two University Professors at the University of Connecticut |
| 2011 | Elected to the National Academy of Engineering |
| 2010 | Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, presented by President Barack Obama |
| 2010 | Elected Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society |
| 2009 | Named one of the 100 engineers of the Modern Era by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers at its Centennial Celebration |
| 2009 | Pierre Galletti Award (highest honor) from the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering |
| 2007 | Who’s Who in Engineering Higher Education, Academic Keys |
| 2007 | “SciAm 50” award 50 highest scientific achievements of 2007 by the Scientific American Magazine |
| 2007 | Robert A. Bland Award, College of Engineering, University of Virginia |
| 2006 | Clemson Award for Contribution to Biomaterials Literature by the society for biomaterials |
| 2006 | Nicolas Andry Award by the American Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons for Significant Achievements in Orthopaedic Surgery |
| 2006 | America’s Top Surgeons |
| 2005, 2004 | Americas’ Top Doctors |
| 2004 | Elected to National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine |
| 2004 | Who’s Who in America |
| 2002 | William Grimes Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers |
| 2002 | Distinguished Professor Designation Bestowed, Drexel University |
| 1999 | Elected International Fellow in Biomaterial Science and Engineering |
| 1999 | Profiled by IEEE in “Scientists of the Millennium” Series |
| 1998 | Distinguished Alumni Award, Princeton University |
| 1997 | Elected Fellow, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons |
| 1995 | Presidential Faculty Fellow Award, The National Science Foundation |
| 1992 | Who’s Who in Engineering and Science |
| 1987 | Robinson Memorial Prize for Surgery |
| 1984-1987 | Hugh Hampton Young Memorial Prize, MIT |
Recent Publications
Injectable nanocomposite analgesic delivery system for musculoskeletal pain management. Khanal, Manakamana; Gohil, Shalini V; Kuyinu, Emmanuel; Kan, Ho-Man; Knight, Brittany E; Baumbauer, Kyle M; Lo, Kevin W-H; Walker, Joseph; Laurencin, Cato T; Nair, Lakshmi S Acta biomaterialia 2018 May;
Biodegradable Piezoelectric Force Sensor. Curry, Eli J; Ke, Kai; Chorsi, Meysam T; Wrobel, Kinga S; Miller, Albert N; Patel, Avi; Kim, Insoo; Feng, Jianlin; Yue, Lixia; Wu, Qian; Kuo, Chia-Ling; Lo, Kevin W-H; Laurencin, Cato T; Ilies, Horea; Purohit, Prashant K; Nguyen, Thanh D Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2018 Jan;
Growth factor delivery strategies for rotator cuff repair and regeneration. Prabhath, Anupama; Vernekar, Varadraj N; Sanchez, Enid; Laurencin, Cato T International journal of pharmaceutics 2018 Jan;
Microsphere-Based Scaffolds in Regenerative Engineering. Gupta, Vineet; Khan, Yusuf; Berkland, Cory J; Laurencin, Cato T; Detamore, Michael S Annual review of biomedical engineering 2017 Jun;19135-161
Engineered stem cell niche matrices for rotator cuff tendon regenerative engineering. Peach, M Sean; Ramos, Daisy M; James, Roshan; Morozowich, Nicole L; Mazzocca, Augustus D; Doty, Steven B; Allcock, Harry R; Kumbar, Sangamesh G; Laurencin, Cato T PloS one 2017 Jan;12(4):e0174789
The past, present and future of ligament regenerative engineering. Mengsteab, Paulos Y; Nair, Lakshmi S; Laurencin, Cato T Regenerative medicine 2016 Dec;11(8):871-881
Nanofiber technology: its transformative role in nanomedicine. James, Roshan; Laurencin, Cato T Nanomedicine (London, England) 2016 Jun;
Animal models of osteoarthritis: classification, update, and measurement of outcomes. Kuyinu, Emmanuel L; Narayanan, Ganesh; Nair, Lakshmi S; Laurencin, Cato T Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research 2016
| laurencin@uchc.edu | |
| Phone | (860) 679-4086 |
| Mailing Address | University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue, Unit MC3800, Farmington, CT 06030 |
| Office Location | E7036 |