UConn Health

November 25, 2025 | Jon D'Arpino

Professor Sir Cato T. Laurencin Receives the Highest Honor of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists

Laurencin of UConn is the recipient of the 2025 Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award by the AAPS.

Laurencin on stage for the 2025 Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award by the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS)

UConn's Dr. Cato T. Laurencin receiving the 2025 Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award by the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) at its annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

AAPS’ highest-ranking award, the Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award, is a lifetime achievement honor that recognizes an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to the pharmaceutical sciences with a lasting impact.

Laurencin is recognized as a pioneering and transformative figure in pharmaceutical science whose lifetime of work has profoundly advanced biomaterials, drug delivery, and regenerative engineering. Over several decades, he has developed a groundbreaking body of research focused on polymeric nanofiber and nanoparticle chemistry, establishing foundational technologies that have reshaped pharmaceutics and therapeutic innovation overall. He received the Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award at the AAPS annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas,

In science, Laurencin is internationally renowned for his scientific work in biomaterials, stem cell science, nanotechnology, drug delivery systems, and the field he has pioneered, regenerative engineering. His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and numerous Foundations. He has received the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, and the National Science Foundation’s Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation Award, these agencies’ highest and most prestigious grant awards for transformative research.

Laurencin received the Priestley Medal (highest award) from the American Chemical Society. He received the Founder’s Award (highest award) from the Society for Biomaterials, the Founder’s Award (highest award) from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Von Hippel Award (highest award) from the Materials Research Society, the Pritzker Award (highest award) from the Biomedical Engineering Society and the James Bailey Award (highest award) from the Society for Biological Engineering. Laurencin is the Editor-in-Chief of Regenerative Engineering and Translational Medicine, published by Springer Nature, and is the founder of the Regenerative Engineering Society.

He is a fellow of the American Chemical Society, a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, a fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, a fellow of the Materials Research Society, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) awarded Laurencin the Philip Hauge Abelson Prize given “for signal contributions to the advancement of science in the United States.” Internationally, Laurencin is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, an Academician and member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering. 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.

At UConn Laurencin is the University Professor and Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at UConn School of Medicine . He is the CEO of The Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering, a cross-university Institute created and named in his honor.