University of Connecticut Professor Cato T. Laurencin was invited to the Vatican to speak to the Pontifical Academy and meet with Pope Francis to discuss his work on regenerative engineering.

During the visit,  Laurencin gave Pope Francis an honorary Cato T. Laurencin Regenerative Engineering Founder’s Award Medal. This medal, endowed by the Regenerative Engineering Society and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Foundation, recognizes leadership in the science and practice of convergence research as applied to regeneration.

Also while at the Vatican, Laurencin provided an important lecture on the field of regenerative engineering. He discussed the Hartford Engineering a Limb (HEAL) project aimed at addressing the grand challenge of whole limb regeneration.

Laurencin has made seminal contributions to tissue regeneration, biomaterials science, and nanotechnology. He founded the field of regenerative engineering and has been considered to be the foremost engineer-physician-scientist in the world. His groundbreaking achievements have led to important advances in improving human life. He is the first surgeon to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Inventors.

Laurencin is the University Professor and Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at UConn.