Cato T. Laurencin, who is a University Professor and holds the Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Chair in Academic Medicine at the University of Connecticut, was named a recipient of the Pioneer Award from the director of the National Institutes of Health. He is the first faculty member at the University of Connecticut to win the award.
The award comes with a $4 million grant to enable Dr. Laurencin to continue his groundbreaking work on regenerative engineering. His research is aimed at regenerative technologies that he hopes can rebuild entire joints or even limbs.
Dr. Laurencin is also the founding director of the Institute for Regenerative Engineering and the founding director of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biomedical, Biological, Physical, and Engineering Sciences at the university.
Dr. Laurencin is a graduate of Princeton University, where he majored in chemical engineering. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Medical School and holds a Ph.D. in biochemical engineering and biotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
