Cato T. Laurencin — a member of the National Academy of Sciences (2021), National Academy of Engineering (2011), and National Academy of Medicine (2004) — is being awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization. The medal is presented for the “highest or noblest achievement by a living African American during the preceding year or years in any honorable field.”  The award recognizes Laurencin's seminal and singular accomplishments in tissue regeneration, biomaterials science, nanotechnology, and regenerative engineering, a field he founded. Previous Spingarn Medal recipients include George Washington Carver, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Duke Ellington, Rosa Parks, Charles Drew, and Maya Angelou.

Laurencin is the first engineer, the fourth physician, and the fifth scientist to receive the Spingarn Medal  and is one of just 25 individuals and the only surgeon to be elected to all three National Academies.  Election to the NAS, NAE, or NAM is considered one of the greatest professional honors in science, engineering, or medicine and health. In addition, he is the first to receive both the NAE’s Simon Ramo Founders Award and the NAM’s Walsh McDermott Medal. A devoted mentor and champion of early career and underrepresented minority scientists, Laurencin has also served on more than 20 National Academies committees and currently chairs the National Academies Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine.

Laurencin is the University Professor and Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, professor of chemical engineering, professor of materials science and engineering, and professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Connecticut. He also received the Philip Hauge Abelson Prize given ‘for signal contributions to the advancement of science in the United States,’ and in technology and inventorship, Laurencin is a laureate of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. 

Laurencin received his B.S.E. in chemical engineering from Princeton University, his M.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School, and his Ph.D. in biochemical engineering/biotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the CEO of The Connecticut Convergence Institute for Translation in Regenerative Engineering.

Read the NAACP’s press statement about the award.