Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. is the Lillian T. Pratt Distinguished Professor, and Chairman of the Department Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Virginia.  He is Orthopaedic Surgeon-in-Chief of the University of Virginia Health System and Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering. He also carries the designation of University Professor. Dr. Laurencin is a Fellow of the American Surgical Association, the American College of Surgeons, and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Dr. Laurencin earned his B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University, his M.D. from the Harvard Medical School where he graduated Magna Cum Laude, and his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He completed a residency in Orthopaedic Surgery at the Harvard University Program, and a fellowship in Shoulder Surgery and Sports Medicine at the Hospital for Special Surgery, Cornell Medical College, in New York.

Dr. Laurencin has also been active in research. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Department of Defense, his research involves Tissue Engineering, Nanotechnology, and Materials Science.  Dr. Laurencin is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.  Dr. Laurencin has been a member of the National Science Advisory Board of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and a member of the National Advisory Council for the N.I.H. Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases Institute. Currently he serves on the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee for the Directorate of Engineering.