Dear Faculty, Staff, Students, Alumni and Friends of UConn:

With the recent passage of Bioscience Connecticut, the UConn Health Center is on the cusp of enormous and transformative changes. Bioscience Connecticut will help restart our economy, and at the same time, meet the complex healthcare needs of our region and state for years to come.

While many people worked hard over many years to secure a healthy future for the UConn Health Center, no one toiled as tirelessly toward this goal as Dr. Cato T. Laurencin. With this major legislative achievement secured, Dr. Laurencin has made a decision to recast his energies entirely toward leading translational research initiatives, conducting research, mentoring, and providing clinical care.

Effective July 1, he will step down from the Vice President and Dean roles and focus on his work as Chief Executive Officer of the Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (CICATS) and  Director of the Institute for Regenerative Engineering. In addition, he will be the Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery, continue to practice orthopaedic surgery, and no doubt, will continue to make far reaching contributions to the mission and vision of the UConn Health Center.

We will name an Interim Vice President shortly and I have asked Provost Nicholls to immediately begin work on a national search for Dr. Laurencin’s successor. I will appoint a search committee that will represent our many campus and community constituencies, and I am confident that we will attract another superb leader.

Together with Health Center Board of Directors Chair Gerald Burrow, Vice Chair Sanford Cloud, and University Board of Trustees Chair Larry McHugh, please join me in thanking Dr. Laurencin for his outstanding efforts and his tremendous dedication to this University. I could not be more grateful for his contributions—locally and internationally—as a scholar, a physician, and a leader.

Sincerely,

Susan Herbst
President