Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean, UConn School of Medicine

Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., a nationally prominent orthopaedic surgeon, bioengineering expert, administrator and professor, is the Vice President for Health Affairs at the University of Connecticut and the seventh dean of the UConn School of Medicine. He holds the Van Dusen Endowed Chair in Academic Medicine and is a professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

An orthopaedic surgeon and a Fellow of both the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and the American Surgical Association, Dr. Laurencin has lectured throughout the world about new innovations in musculoskeletal regeneration, biomaterials, and shoulder surgery and has published over 200 publications and has more than 20 patents.

Raised in North Philadelphia, Dr. Laurencin earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, where he was a Magna Cum Laude graduate and the recipient of the Robinson Award for Excellence in Surgery. During medical school, he also earned his Ph.D. in biochemical engineering/biotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was a Hugh Hampton Young Scholar.

Dr. Laurencin has been named to America’s Top Doctors and America’s Top Surgeons for his clinical achievements and was profiled by Black Enterprise magazine as one of “America’s Leading Doctors.” In research, he has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Department of Defense. He has won the prestigious Nicolas Andry Award from the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons for his work in musculoskeletal regeneration, and his work was recognized by Scientific American Magazine with its “SCIAM 50” award.

Dr. Laurencin is married to Cynthia Laurencin, and they have three children.

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