UConn Health

August 15, 2023 | Jennifer Walker - UConn Health

Regenerative Engineering Pioneer Professor Cato T. Laurencin Named 2023 Inventor of the Year

The Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation (IPOEF) awards the prestigious Inventor of the Year award to Dr. Cato T. Laurencin for his groundbreaking innovation in regenerative engineering. Dr. Laurencin’s work has led to clinical systems for bone, cartilage, ligament, and tendon healing and regeneration.

The Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation (IPOEF) awards the prestigious Inventor of the Year award to Dr. Cato T. Laurencin for his groundbreaking innovation in regenerative engineering. Dr. Laurencin’s work has led to clinical systems for bone, cartilage, ligament, and tendon healing and regeneration. At the same time, his technologies have had profound implications for the treatment of cancer, and degenerative conditions such as osteoarthritis. Dr. Laurencin currently serves as one of two University Professors at the University of Connecticut and is the Chief Executive Officer of The Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering at UConn.

The Inventor of the Year is the annual award presented to the world’s most outstanding recent inventors. Previous award winners have included the inventors of CRISPR-Cas9 technologies and the inventors of mRNA technologies for COVID-19 vaccine development.

Professor Laurencin’s innovations in regenerative engineering and his impact on the fields of biomaterials, nanotechnology, and stem cell science have had an immeasurable impact. As the leading international figure in polymeric biomaterials chemistry and engineering, he has made extraordinary scientific contributions while at the same time, he has had profound contributions to improving human health through the technologies and products he has invented.

Dr. Laurencin is the first surgeon elected to the four major national academies in the United States (the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Inventors). He received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, America’s highest honor for technological achievement, in ceremonies at the White House in 2016.

Internationally his work has been recognized with election to academies throughout the world including the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Indian Academy of Engineering and Academies of Science in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Dr. Laurencin will be presented the 2023 IPO Education Foundation Inventor of the Year award at the 2023 IPOEF Awards Celebration on December 6, 2023, in Washington, DC.